A Tale of Four Realms
by EmeraldDragon1
Summary: When a magician is spited for his proposed goals, he takes drastic steps to make them a reality. But when an experiment goes wrong, he makes lemonade and continues with his plans. An experimental fic; criticism is accepted, flames are not.
1. Chapter 1

**So, this was an idea I had after looking around on YouTube for a while; let's see how well this works, shall we?**

Mordo looked around himself, making sure everything was in place. Surrounding him was a purple pentagram, and at each point of the star sat an Ender Pearl; on the inside points of the pentagram sat five Eye of Enders. He grinned, saying to himself

"Now begins the era of my domination, of my absolute rule." He pulled out a piece of paper that had ancient writing on it in black ink. Without further ado, he began to read off the inscription, the words giving his voice extra power that seemed to vibrate the very air around him. As he read off each word, the ink soaked through the paper, but left it dry, falling to the stone floor. It seemed to crawl to the lines of the pentagram, leaking onto the purple with pitch-black, with only spots of purple gleaming through.

Soon the inscription was complete, and Mordo looked excitedly for the results of his labors. However, something went wrong… horribly so. The ink kept crawling until it reached the Pearls and Enders, coating over them. The lines of the pentagram shone brightly, so much so that Mordo had to cover his eyes. The pentagram rose slightly off the floor, then began to fold on itself.

Without warning, the Ender Pearls shot at him and latched onto his limbs, one each, and the last on his forehead. The Eye of Enders, on the other hand, all flew and attached themselves to his chest, creating its own pentagram, which was interconnected with the purple lines that also connected to the Pearls. Mordo screamed in agony as searing pain overtook his nerves, but he couldn't move his body at all. The last thing he remembered was the feeling of a liquid substance crawling over his skin before blacking out.

When Mordo woke up, groaning from the stiffness of his muscles, he opened his eyes to find his vision red-tinted, as though he wore redstone-colored glasses over his eyes. He closed them and reopened them, hoping it would help, but his vision didn't change. He raised his hands to rub his eyes, but paused as he noticed his hands were completely black, as if a layer of thick soot covered his skin. He rubbed his palms together, but nothing changed. On top of that, he noticed that while his skin's appearance had changed, the texture was still the same.

He propped himself up on his arms, looking down at himself through his reddened vision, and realized that the black coloration was all over him. He recoiled, despite knowing that it wouldn't help. Once he recovered, he stood up on his feet; his body didn't feel that much different, except possibly more powerful. However, he was still somewhat disoriented, and stumbled over to his mirror, where he looked and saw something he neither expected nor wanted.

His entire body was black as pitch, with only two exceptions; gleaming, angry-red eyes, and strangely enough, a large Ender Pearl imposed on and in his chest. His hands reached up, feeling the features of his face; they were still present, just colored over now. He looked much like an Enderman now, with the exception of his size, which still retained his normal human height.

"No, no… NO!" He screamed in horror, realizing the gravity of his actions; he had only been trying to give himself the power of the Enderman, not become one! But somehow the spell had backfired and done something he didn't want. Mordo quickly looked around, desperately searching for his notes. Once he found them, he started raking them over, searching for any reason as to why he had failed.

However, he could find nothing, so the problem had to lie in the procedure itself. He stumbled back over to the mirror, looking intently at his face and seeing the horror reflected in his eyes. After a couple moments, he growled and punched the mirror, breaking it into large shards. Ignoring his bleeding hand, he screamed to the ceiling

"Notch, why have you forsaken me like this?!" He expected no answer from the supposed godly figure, but still he ranted, cursing his creations and even Notch himself. Once he was finished, he sat in his chair, panting from his senseless ranting. He wondered now what he would do with himself; he was already the weakest magician in the city, taunted, scorned, and constantly pestered by his betters. He wanted nothing more than to feed them to the Zombies, Creepers, and Skeletons, but he didn't have the power to do so.

He sighed, knowing he had only made life harder for himself. He closed his eyes, wishing he were at the bottom of a deep pit right now. At that moment, he noticed a distinct change in temperature, and he opened his eyes to find himself in a large scar of the Overworld, with two cliffs on either side of him. They were known as scars because they typically split the area into two different parts, reveling the blood of the planet inside, so to speak.

He blinked, not understanding how he got from his home to here, all in the span of a second. It was certainly confusing, and he didn't have the slightest clue what changed his venue. He thought back, remembering that he had wished to wind up in a pit, and a thought struck him. He believed his experiment was a failure, but perhaps… just perhaps…

He closed his eyes again and thought of his home, and the temperature warmed back up. He opened his eyes again to see the inside of his home. He stood stunned for a moment, then began to chuckle. The soon morphed into a laugh, which quickly became full-throated. He had done it! He had gained the power of the Endermen, and now he could go wherever he pleased, and no one could tell him otherwise!

He immediately started thinking about places he wanted to go, with intentions that would benefit him. After a couple minutes, he smirked deviously and closed his eyes again, teleporting. Upon opening his eyes, he saw he was in a large room that had hundreds of shelves, upon which sat piles of gold, diamond, and emeralds, the Overworld's form of currency. He walked over to a large block of gold in particular, eyeing the precious deposit. He grabbed it, and almost immediately an alarm went off, taking him by surprise.

A door burst open and wolves filed inside, snarling at him. He gulped and took a firm hold on the gold block, closing his eyes shut and thinking of his home. Although the snarling of the wolves stopped abruptly, he was still reluctant to open his eyes, though he eventually did, seeing that he was safe in his abode again. The experiment successful and he safe, he set the block of gold down and sat in his chair, heaving a sigh of relief.

Then he started thinking more about what Endermen were capable of. Despite being the ultimate thieves and banes to traveling miners, they were also notorious to be nighttime creatures, like most of the enemies, especially the undead. However, unlike the undead, Endermen did not burst into flames at the hint of sunlight. Why exactly was this, Mordo wondered? If they didn't die at the presence of sunlight, why did they avoid it?

He walked outside, but to his surprise, even though it was the dead of night, he could see as clearly as though it were day. He could easily spot the creatures of the night, though everything was still annoyingly red-tinted. There probably wasn't anything he could do for that, however, so he figured he should get used to it.

He was soon approached by a Zombie, and he reflexively recoiled away from it. But other than looking at him, the Zombie went its merry way, bypassing him completely. Mordo was nothing less than shocked, and soon he found that his new appearance benefitted him by allowing him to walk by typical enemies without being attacked. Even the Creepers did nothing against him, and it was at this time that Mordo realized he had the potential to do much with this newfound appearance.

He walked through the night, passing by enemies easily, and anytime he spotted a nighttime miner, they instantly ran away from his creepy eyes, sometimes screaming for their lives. He chuckled every time, enjoying the fear he instilled into passersby. However, another element of this transformation needed to be tested; Enderman were notoriously afraid of water. A miner's safe haven from Endermen was in the middle of rain.

Why exactly were Endermen afraid of water? It would make sense that they avoided deep pools of water if they couldn't swim, but they avoided even the tiniest raindrop. That led Mordo to believe that the water was somehow harmful to them, so to that extent, he needed to find some water. He continued looking around in the cave he had wandered into, and soon enough he found a waterfall; inching forward nervously, he stuck a hand in the liquid, and immediately pulled it back out, howling in pain.

The howl bounced around the walls of the cave, making it sound somewhat like several Endermen that were all pissed off. Mordo checked his hand, seeing that where the water touched he was burned as if it were lava and not water. He sucked on his teeth, wishing the pain to go away. With that, he teleported back to his house and quickly brewed a healing potion, removing the burn. He found it odd that the potion worked in the first place, but he wasn't about to start complaining.

Now the only question was what he was going to do with these abilities. He still wanted to throw his antagonists to the Zombies and Skeletons, but he wanted more. He wanted to rule, since it was now in his power, but even if he could establish domination over the Overworld, the other three realms could easily oppose him, and with their diversified abilities and weapons, he wouldn't stand much of a chance.

To that end, he needed to attain global domination. Though that was a pipe dream for most, perhaps he could accomplish it if he played his cards right. The first step would be assuming quick, quiet control over a realm, then dominating the Overworld, followed by the last two realms.

The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced he could pull it off. He stood and walked over to a rendition map of the realms he had created some time ago, which was one of the few things he had created that was accepted. He kept the original copy, as a sort of trophy. It depicted the four realms in one circle; at the top, half of the circle horizontally was entirely dominated by the Overworld. As for the bottom half, it was split into three equal parts, and in order from left to right, it went the Aether, the Ender World, and the Nether.

He looked them over carefully, already having discounted the Overworld as the place to start his reign. It was fairly obvious that trying to dominate the Aether without an army was suicidal, and Endermen weren't common in the Nether, so it left him with one option. He placed a black finger on the Ender World, reviewing what he knew about the realm. The most that he knew was that it was the holding place of the Enderpeople, as well as the Enderdragon, who was more myth than fact; those that challenged the dragon never returned.

He only heard of speculation as to how the Ender World actually looked and operated; most that managed to open an End Portal barely made it with their lives back, and none with much remaining sanity. However, he wouldn't be as conspicuous as any other human entering the Ender World. The question now became one of finding the nearest End Portal and securing the necessary Eye of Enders to open it.

His plans for the future settled, he went off to his bedroom, intending to get a good night's sleep before beginning his quest.

**Okay, that about covers this beginning chapter. So tell me what you think, and hopefully I'll get the next one out soon.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for the delay, all, but the writing is still slow. But I'm gonna keep this story going, because I'm genuinely interested to see what I can do with it. Now then, let's continue.**

Mordo snuck around in the night, trying to keep as quiet as possible. He was currently slinking around the town he lived in, with intents to steal, no less. He had a plan of action to begin his reign of rule, but there were still hitches in the plan, the most immediate being how to actually get to the Ender World in the first place.

He knew that some adventurers were well-noted (and probably deserving of it to boot) for being Ender-slayers. These were the men and women who were brave enough to challenge an Enderman head-on, and sometimes collected the rewards, namely Ender Pearls. This was what Mordo was after, and he certainly wouldn't turn down any Eye of Enders.

His true goal was to gather as many as possible; he wasn't necessarily certain why, beyond a point, but he had the oddest compulsion to take whatever he could. He was already aware that an Eye of Ender was necessary to begin his quest, but as to why he needed the Ender Pearls, well, that still remained a mystery.

He finally pressed up against the house of one of the more notable Ender-slayers, a man by the name of Darius. He berated himself multiple times, questioning his sanity for even considering such a plan, but he did not stop himself regardless. He peeked through the window, hoping that the man would be asleep. No lights were on, which was a good sign. He concentrated and teleported inside, then stood still, waiting for any traps. None were set off, so he continued on.

He searched around the house, getting a quick layout, and in no time found Darius' bedroom. The man was sleeping peacefully, amusingly, with his diamond sword in his hands, at the ready at a moment's notice. Mordo refrained from snorting derisively, moving on. He kept searching through the house, until he soon found the store room. He cheered silently, then quickly walked up to the numerous chests.

He uttered a quick, quiet spell and broke the locks. He was starting to find that his powers had grown exponentially; he no longer needed an exuberant amount of potions in order to accomplish his means. Just words alone were enough. He had wanted to experiment further, but this compulsion had taken precedent.

He opened the slightly creaky chest, wincing as the sound seemed many times louder in the tense silence, but heard no change in Darius' snoring. Sighing softly in relief, he began looking inside, and to his astonishment, he saw stacks of Ender Pearls and even Eye of Enders. He was an accomplished Ender-slayer for a reason, but Mordo never suspected he was a Blaze-slayer as well.

Regardless of his astonishment, Mordo began scooping up the Pearls and Enders without remorse, but rather with a mounting sense of excitement. Once he had as many as he could hold, which was a fair amount in truth, he held them up, glinting in the moonlight. Suddenly they glowed brightly, surprising him, and they all moved seemingly on their own, shooting at him. The remaining inside the chest joined this effect, and they all sunk into the large Ender Pearl on his chest, making him grunt as he felt his chest tighten.

Several minutes later, it was all over; no signs of the Pearls or Enders remained, in the chest or on his person. He touched the Ender Pearl on his chest, not for the first time wondering what its purpose was. He had been trying to decipher that mystery for days now, but had come up with no explanation. Nevertheless, there had to be a reason that Endermen had these pearls to begin with, why they had disappeared inside his body, and why he had the compulsion to gather them in the first place.

Sudden thumping caught his attention, and he turned to see Darius, thumping the flat of his diamond blade against the palm of his hand. Mordo gulped nervously, and Darius remarked

"Well, well, what have we got here? More of you thieving monsters of the night, here in my own home? You're probably one o' the stupidest Endermen I've ever encountered, though; did you really think you could get the drop on me in my own home?" Mordo calmed down the more Darius talked and stroked his own ego. He wasn't going to be a large problem, he thought.

"The silent type, eh? Fine, it doesn't matter, you'll be dead in a matter of minutes." He raised his blade and began approaching, but Mordo stood his ground. His red eyes flashed for a moment, making Darius pause, looking him over.

"Come to think of it, you're definitely an oddity; no Enderman I know has red eyes, nor displays their Pearl. What the hell are you?" Mordo chuckled, taking Darius by surprise. Finally, Mordo spoke for the first time, replying

"Someone you don't want to mess with." Darius' eyes became dinner plates at his words, but Mordo didn't give him time to contemplate it. He waved a hand quickly in front of him, and a blast of wind tore through the room, slamming into Darius and sending him flying back, crashing into the wall. Darius grunted and slid against the wall to the floor, and Mordo walked over, feeling more powerful than before. Darius groaned and raised his deadly sharp blade, but Mordo waved a hand and pulled the sword to him.

He observed the blade for a minute, wondering whether or not he should take it as well. A little curious to know which was more powerful, himself or the blade, he tried to use his power to destroy it. After a few tense moments, dark red-green cracks erupted through the blade, and soon it blew into sharp shards that flew in every direction. Luckily it didn't hit either Mordo or Darius, and Mordo smirked, his decision made.

"Looks like I'm just about ready to begin my conquest. Perhaps I'll be seeing you sometime later. When that time comes, I expect you to present a real challenge to me." Darius had no reply, and Mordo teleported out of the house, satisfied with his new cache of Ender Pearls and Eye of Enders.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Far away from the small village where Mordo dwelled, a large castle stood, patrolled by multiple guards. Within the stone fortress, in the throne room specifically, a man dressed in regal attire sat, facing an adolescent boy who seemed not to care about the situation, despite that the man on the throne was clearly frowning. Rather, he was busying himself scratching the neck of the tamed wolf next to him. After several tense moments, the man on the throne said in a falsely deceptive voice

"What am I going to do with you, boy? You're a prince, for Notch's sake! And to top it off, you're too old to be acting this way!" The boy finally looked up at the man, a mischievous smirk playing across his face.

"Why would you think that? After all, no one got hurt, right?" The man stood up, a robe of royal purple flapping behind him as he shouted

"That's not the point, Jason! I allow you liberty, but you take it too far, and I have no choice but to revoke those privileges from you! Keep it up, and you'll never be allowed to leave the castle!" Jason rolled his eyes, retorting

"I don't see what the big deal is; it was just one steak."

"The 'big deal', young man, is that you are stealing! And using your wolf is hardly helping the situation!" At the mention of the animal in question, Jason smirked and said

"I can't help it if Max gets hungry at the most opportune times. Besides, the vendor is always stingy and charges prices no one can afford. I mean, five emeralds for one sub-par steak?! Even Max didn't like it that much, and he doesn't turn down any edible meat, raw or cooked!" The man sighed, pinched his nose, and sat back down on the throne. He was unable to respond without wanting to slap some sense into his son, so he kept his silence for the moment. After that, he said

"You still need to be punished, Jason. I can't keep allowing you to get away with this. Any other person would be sentenced to a prison term or perform community service in the Nether or Aether!" Jason paused at that; he knew of both of those realms, and by far, the Nether was his least favorite; it was stiflingly hot, had very little scenery to appreciate, and the patrol of the Nether, the Zombie Pigmen, just plain scared him. His father continued

"Moreover, your erroneous behavior reflects on how I'm raising you, not just as the king-in-waiting, but as an individual. It hurts me personally to know that my only child is running the streets doing whatever catches his fancy. I just hope we don't get a visitor saying she's carrying your child because of your recklessness." Jason blushed at that, shouting

"Dad!" The king shrugged, remarking

"I wouldn't put it past you, but make no mistake; if such a thing _does _occur, you will be cast out of the castle until you learn the meaning of responsibility." Before Jason could retort indignantly, a guard came rushing in, obviously out of breath. The king waited patiently, and soon the guard regained his breath and told the royal figure

"My liege, forgive my intrusion, but we've been receiving some… strange reports, as of late." The king frowned, asking

"What kind of reports?" The guard hesitated before replying

"Well, quite frankly, my king, we've heard tell about a short, red-eyed Enderman who has been stealing from people, namely adventurers." The king's frown turned into a scowl, he looked upon his son, and told him

"Leave for now; but don't forget my warnings." Jason just nodded and left the room, his tamed wolf, Max, following dutifully behind.

"Well, that had to be the weirdest thing I ever heard of. I mean, who's ever heard of a red-eyed Enderman?!" Max simply barked in reply, and Jason rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, the guards are probably just full of it again. Still, it might be interesting to see where this rumor is coming from. Whattya say, boy? You up for an adventure?" Max barked several more times, and Jason grinned.

"Then first thing tomorrow, we head out to the city to start looking!"

**Okay, that covers some writing for now, but don't expect regular updates; writing is still slow (for whatever reason!), and I'll be busy with life for a bit. Nevertheless, give me your opinion, and have a good day!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Well, I'm back, and I'm not dead! Anyway, I'm hoping to get my writing inspiration back soon; maybe the fall season of school will help. At any rate, enjoy the chapter!**

Jason walked through the town square, for the most part ignoring all the bows he got from various people. Being the prince of the Overworld was exhausting, if for no other reason than many of its people seemed intent on pleasing him, even if their good intentions were misdirected. However, Jason had learned to put up with it, courtesy in part of his training in etiquette, which was one of the reasons why he was here now.

He spotted a stall in the vendor's market, where a certain bitter villager stood, waiting on anybody to trade for his wares. Jason took a deep breath and exhaled to calm his nerves, then looked down at his ever-faithful wolf, remarking

"Guess it's now or never, huh Max?" The wolf barked in reply, and Jason gathered his nerve and walked up to the stall in particular, the bald villager scowling upon sight of him.

"Well, look who it is" he sneered.

"Back to steal more of my wares to put me out of business?!" Jason shook his head, replying calmly

"No. I've come to apologize for my actions." The villager paused, then scowled and scoffed.

"Yeah, right. The day I believe you is the day you pay me back!" Jason nodded and pulled a bag from his pack, setting it on the table in front of him. The villager looked at it for a moment, then at Jason, and slowly pulled the bag to him, opened it, revealing a large amount of emeralds, which of course astonished him. He looked back up at Jason with a blank face, to which Jason replied

"I think that should cover the steak from yesterday, the pork chop from last week, and the fish from a month ago. I humbly apologize to you and hope that you will forgive me." The villager paused again, then looked into the bag, eyeing the emeralds again. Then he looked up at Jason, smiling for the first time.

"I will. Let's let bygones be bygones, provided you don't steal from me again." Jason shook his head and brought out a couple more emeralds, saying

"Actually, I'd like to purchase your best steak." The villager's mouth watered at the sight of the emeralds to add to his collection, and he quickly rushed back, grabbing the best steak he had, and one of the larger ones, too. He returned and handed it over, making the trade official, and waved Jason off, saying

"Have a nice day!" Jason smiled and waved back, then looked down at Max, asking

"That went well, didn't it boy?" Max barked gleefully and wagged his tail, making Jason chuckle. They found a spot in the shade and split the steak, and Jason found it to be actually quite delicious. Whether it was the actual quality, or having made peace with the villager beforehand he didn't know, but he enjoyed it nevertheless. However, he hadn't forgotten the reason he had ventured all the way out here.

Part of it was to make peace with the vendor he had wronged, and he had done that impressively. But the other reason was to see for himself the Enderman the guards had talked about, which piqued his attention; the short, red-eyed Enderman, an oddity and rarity to be sure, if it even existed. He had plans to talk to the various people who might point him in the right direction, as well as the village's local soothsayer.

Once he and Max finished the steak, Jason rose and led the way to the soothsayer's residence, where the clairvoyant woman charged reasonable prices to tell one's future. Jason walked past the lavish purple curtain, seeing the table on which the crystal ball sat. He called out

"Hello? Claire, are you here?!" After a short moment, the woman appeared from her house, entering the fortune-telling room. She smiled upon seeing him, greeting

"Prince Jason! Welcome to my humble abode! How may I help you?" Jason pulled out a piece of iron and gold, replying

"I wanted to ask some questions, maybe see if you had answers." Claire nodded and motioned to the table, which Jason sat at, and Claire sat at the other side, asking

"What questions do you have for me?" Jason thought for a moment, determining which was more important, then finally put the question to her.

"I've been hearing rumors of a red-eyed Enderman stealing from the village. What can you tell me about it?" Claire nodded and placed her hands around the crystal, her eyes glazing over as she looked into the unknown. After a moment, she told him

"It is not an Enderman, but rather a spited magician. He has transformed himself from a simple and bumbling wizard into a dangerous enemy. His hatred has only grown with the transformation, and he will soon act upon it." Jason was unnerved by the information, continuing to ask

"What will he do?" Claire continued on, explaining

"He will take over a realm, relying on obscurity, and will attack when least expected. No one will know he's coming, not even you nor I." Jason frowned, pointing out

"But you can see the future. You're telling me about it right now!" Claire shook her head, retorting

"Just because I can see its occurrence doesn't mean I know exactly when it will happen. Besides, something might occur that changes the future; it is not set in stone, young prince. My crystal ball only shows me the most probable outcome, which I relay to my customers. You're no different." Jason hesitated for a moment, then asked

"Can you see my future?" Claire looked once again at the ball between her hands, then began to say

"You shall experience a great loss, one that will make you question your will to live. I foresee a great adventure ahead of you, one that will challenge the very life you know not whether to keep or relinquish, and you shall meet many, many people, some of whom may surprise you." Jason was once again unnerved.

"Anything else?" Claire shook her head, replying

"Nay, nothing I can reveal further. There is nothing more I have to say." Jason hesitated before nodding, then handing her the amount he owed her, leaving with Max and feeling far more uneasy than when he came.

A couple hours later, he arrived at the castle that was his home and traveled to the throne room, where his father sat waiting for him. The king didn't wait to say

"I heard you went back into town today… and set a marvelous example of taking responsibility for your actions." Jason looked up to see his father's approving face. He nodded and replied

"I thought about what you said, father, and I decided I wanted to make you proud." King Charles nodded, telling his son

"I am proud, son; I'm proud that you're growing up and maturing, even if it took a little reinforcement. But I also heard that you visited the soothsayer, and I'm rather curious as to why." Jason wondered about the wisdom of imparting what he was told, but decided to anyway.

"I wanted to ask her about the future and what it might hold for me." The king raised an eyebrow, asking

"And…?"

"Well, it seems the reports of the red-eyed Enderman aren't falsified, but it's not an Enderman, it's a wizard. She also predicted some great journey for me." The king frowned in thought, then stated

"Preposterous. You're a prince; you won't be going on any such adventure." Jason was annoyed now, asking

"So all that training I got was for nothing?" The king retorted

"No, that was in the event that the worst should come. However, that won't happen; instead, life as we know will continue on peacefully, as I and my forefathers have ruled this land." Jason sighed, knowing his father wouldn't listen further.

"Very well, father. I'll continue with my lessons." The king nodded approvingly.

"Good. You make me proud, son." Jason finally smiled at that, glad to at least hear it. Then he went with Max to the classroom to continue his previous lesson about the various realms.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Mordo held up the Eye of Ender in his hand, smirking at the cave that stood open before him. The Eye had led him this far, and it would only take him further; he would enter the Ender World and take over, then dominate the Overworld, and his plans would be near complete.

He tossed up the Eye, which floated for a moment before flying into the cave. Mordo followed after it, his new vision allowing him to easily keep track of it. He walked through the conclave of tunnels and passages, having eyes only for the Ender Eye. Occasionally he had to blow away a Creeper, crashing it upon the stone walls, or a spider, who thought to make a meal of him. He of course came across skeletons and zombies frequently; after all, they were dead adventurers, who did not return from their mines.

On the Ender Eye led him, and more than once, he had to blow out an interfering wall. He did so without regard for who he might be disturbing, not caring in the least. He was almost certain he caused a cave-in at one point, but since it had no effect on him, he didn't care, continuing on his journey.

After a couple of hours, he started to notice a growing amount of Endermen, as well as the transition from stone to stone bricks, indicating that he was on the verge of a stronghold. His evil smirk grew wider as he traversed over the stone brick floor, approaching an ominous set of stairs. Almost immediately, a batch of large silverfish popped out of the bricks and started crawling threateningly toward him; he simply waved a hand and blew them all over the stairs, through the empty, inactive portal, and into the lava below.

Mordo walked up the stairs, looking over the End Portal and making sure it was fully intact. He was satisfied to see that it indeed was, and decided to begin. He placed a hand to the Pearl on his chest, which began to glow and pulse with an ominous light. Not a minute later, twelve Eyes of Ender flew out, aligning themselves above the End Portal Frames before gently floating down and locking in place.

A strange hissing sound emanated from the portal, and the Eyes began to glow themselves. A black cloud of particles rose out of each of the Eyes, connecting around the portal before beginning to fill in the middle. After a couple minutes, the End Portal was complete, a veritable black hole above the pit of lava in the barren room. A broad and evil smile spread across Mordo's lips as he stated

"The era of my reign is at hand. Those that tormented me will soon pay, and everyone will fear my name." He stepped into the portal as casually as stepping down from a horse, and after a gut-wrenching experience landed on a platform of obsidian. He looked around him, seeing almost nothing but a pitch-black void of absolute nothingness.

However, looking the other way, he spotted a large island of blank yellow-white stone, with many obsidian spires on which sat pieces of bedrock, with a strange purple crystal floating just above it. Mordo looked once more at the island, and spotted many Endermen, Enderwomen, and even Enderchildren. He then heard a loud clap, like thunder, and looked up to see a large black dragon with blazing purple eyes flying overhead. Because he looked like an Enderman himself, the dragon made no move to attack him, which pleased him. He teleported to one of the obsidian spires, sitting against it and thinking

"_First I'll rest and recover my strength. Then I'll reign in that dragon and make it my slave; the Endermen will follow, and once I have an army established, I'll dominate the Overworld. And the first place to go will be the village…" _Chuckling at his plan, he closed his eyes and gently drifted off in the mostly silent realm, with the exception of Endermen grunts.

**Okay, that sets us up for the next chapter. Hope you're looking forward to it!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey everyone! Guess what; I'm not dead! Man, it's been forever since I updated this story, over half a year! I sincerely apologize for that, but some things are just out of one's control, you know? At any rate, my time away hasn't been completely wasted; I've been writing down notes and such on how to continue this story, and now I'm gonna get right back into it with a vengeance! Hopefully you'll enjoy everything I have in store, so let me know what you think when you have the time. Thanks for waiting!**

Mordo woke from his slumber, opening his eyes and looking around him. He was still in the End, the Void, and grinned at the sight. All around him Endermen walked around, and occasionally glanced at him, though they made no advances against him. Mordo felt superior, not least because the Endermen wouldn't be provoked simply by looking at them thanks to his new appearance, and the second benefit was that the Ender Dragon didn't immediately pick him out, although he was still strange in the fact that his eyes were red instead of pink-purple, and the Ender Pearl rested _on_ his chest rather than in it.

Mordo continued to look around, discerning how little there was in the End. For the most part, it was a conglomeration of what appeared to be houses created haphazardly out of dirt, gravel, sand, and most anything Endermen could get their spindly hands on. Very few times did he spot something of actual value, particularly gold or diamond. Looking through holes in the houses often had, he could tell that each one had at least one piece of valuable loot, which he assumed was the male Enderman's version of asking a female to be his mate.

Mordo moved past that, looking at the obsidian spires that littered the End, topped by strange purple crystals that rotated regularly, but otherwise didn't do much. Mordo noticed that every time the Ender Dragon flew close to one of them, a strange beam would extend from the crystal to the dragon, and he imagined it was a means for the dragon to repair its health should anyone be brave or stupid enough to come in and challenge it, and somehow damage it.

Mordo took a deep breath, finally done delaying and ready to begin his conquest. He teleported to around the middle of the mass of land that was in the End, looking around for the dragon. Once he spotted it, a fair distance away, he held up his right hand, where the air shimmered for a second before fire erupted. He grasped it, apparently unaffected by the writhing flames, and lifted it up; upon doing this, the fire straightened out before bending strangely, a thin line connecting the two ends and creating a bow made out of fire.

Mordo lifted the weapon, inspecting it before grinning with satisfaction. He then lifted it up and aimed at the dragon. Most of the Endermen around the area immediately stopped what they were doing, looking with curiosity and trepidation at the odd Endermen, the metaphorical black sheep among them. Never before had they seen one of their own wielding magic, especially not at the strength this one did; Mordo slowly raised his left hand, grasping at the fiery string before pulling back on it, whereupon an arrow composed of fire flickered into existence. Mordo lined his sights upon the Ender Dragon, who had yet to notice the strange events going on.

Many of the Endermen at that point began screaming in their harsh voices, trying to warn the dragon about the impending danger, but at that second Mordo fired his arrow, which shot unnaturally straight and hit home, piercing the dragon's shoulder and causing it to roar in pain. The dragon's head whipped around, searching for the source while the nearest crystal healed it; Mordo immediately called attention to himself by sending a plume of fire into the air, making the dragon growl and fly over to him. The dragon landed several yards ahead of him, then roared at him, clearly displeased. Once the roar ended, the dragon surprised Mordo by speaking directly to him, its voice indistinguishable to a gender, but still made its message clear.

"What do you think you are doing, puny Enderman?!" Mordo only let his surprise at the dragon's ability to speak keep him occupied for a moment before he stated

"I have come to assert my rule over this realm; once I've done that, I will command these Endermen to sack the Overworld and spread word of my sovereign leadership. Then I will take over the remaining realms and be the ruler of the world!" The dragon laughed harshly, then lowered its head at him, showing its immense size; from the bottom of its jaw to the top of its snout nearly reached Mordo's height.

"Foolish idiot, you'll never best me. In the thousands of years I've ruled this dimension, not one has claimed me their slave, and that won't change today." Mordo smirked and retorted

"I beg to differ. In fact, I will make you my slave, and I will order you to attack the kingdom and destroy the village that tormented me for so many years." The dragon growled, telling him

"I grow bored of this ridiculous conversation. Die!" The dragon lunged forward, opening its maw to swallow him, but Mordo teleported out of the way, appearing behind it with his fiery bow again. He lifted it and fired another arrow, striking it in the back of the head, but the arrow didn't have enough power to pierce the dragon's hide or skull. The dragon roared again, swiping its tail and striking Mordo, sending him crashing into one of the Endermen's houses, and Mordo shook his head, in a slight daze before he teleported out of sight. The dragon searched around for him, knowing that even with an Enderman's teleporting ability could not leave this dimension so easily.

The dragon spread its wings wide and flapped downward hard, taking off into the air and flying to search for the strange Enderman. At that moment, it felt something land on its back; it stopped and flapped its enormous wings to hover, and turned its head to look at what was on it without its permission. There it saw the form of Mordo, who was grinning evilly and waved before raising his left hand, which shimmered with energy again before forming a sort of whip, which he brought down on the dragon. The scaly reptile found it more of an annoyance than an actual threat, and it was nothing more than a tool to mock it anyway. Growling, the Ender Dragon twisted its body in the air and flung Mordo off, whereupon it struck the magician with its tail, sending him careening in a completely different direction. Mordo was stunned briefly before he teleported back to ground level, then hissed as he realized that the dragon had done more damage than he assumed, pain lancing through his torso that indicated damaged ribs. Regardless, he pushed on, intending to fix the problem as soon as he had a chance.

Aiming at the dragon who currently didn't know his position, he fired a thin beam of energy that pierced one of its wings, causing the dragon to roar in pain. Mordo smirked and repeated the action, except this time he continued to fire it in a line that sliced through the membrane of the wing like an iron sword dipped briefly in lava and slashing at a Zombie's rotted flesh. Without the intact wing, the dragon plummeted to the ground, crashing hard, but didn't stay down. It stumbled back up, fighting the pain it felt, then roared loudly, sounding its displeasure. While it did that, Mordo quickly took a Potion of Healing and drank it, repairing the damage to his ribs and multiples of bruises accrued from the fight thus far. Once the potion was empty, he tossed the glass bottle aside and walked forward toward the dragon, hoping to end the battle quickly. Upon seeing him, the dragon snarled and leapt at him, extending its talons and opening its mouth wide, intent on killing the Enderman/magician freak that was tormenting it.

Mordo teleported directly out of the path of the dragon, leaving it to land on the ground somewhat clumsily and reappear behind it. He raised a hand and quickly formed a ball of dark energy that he blasted the back of the creature's head with, and while it struck hard, the dragon's hide did a magnificent job of protecting it, absorbing or deflecting most of the attack's power. The dragon turned at him, growling menacingly, and it was at this point that Mordo began to wonder about the wisdom of his plan before he reminded himself of the humiliation he had felt at the hands of his peers; the thought caused him to snarl back at the dragon, and he felt a flood of power that he had yet to experiment with.

Now was a good time as any.

Holding his hands close together to his body but with a small distance between them, he once again created the ball of energy, though it was much darker this time and had the flickering appearance of fire, as well as small wisps that behaved like smoke, wafting up and dissipating in the air. Once it was fully formed, Mordo raised his right hand with the ball of energy, and threw it at the dragon. Said dragon pushed itself aside, avoiding a direct hit, but when the ball landed it exploded with enormous power, sending the dragon flying briefly before it crumpled on the ground in a black glossy heap. The dragon panted, starting to become fatigued, which bolstered Mordo's confidence and gave him the drive to walk forward and say

"It would seem as though you're tiring, dragon. Soon this Realm will be mine." The dragon glared at him with a piercing purple eye, growling, and roared as it launched at him again, swiping preemptively to try and kill him in one blow. Unfortunately, Mordo simply teleported out of the way, and when the Ender Dragon landed he held up a hand, releasing a blast of energy that smacked the dragon on the nose and caused its head to snap back, surprising it. Mordo pressed the attack, swiping his hands through the air and repeatedly blasting the dragon until it finally collapsed to the ground, unable to stand. Mordo grinned at his victory, knowing that the fight was over. He observed the fallen form of his enemy, inspiration coming to his mind at the last minute and forcing him to think quickly before the dragon could marshal any energy to oppose him.

Mordo smirked as he walked up to the downed and panting black dragon with angry amethyst eyes. He stopped just mere yards in front of it, a bold move to say the least; however, the dragon was too tired to do more than growl threateningly, which Mordo ignored. After eyeing his opponent for a minute, he stated

"I have beaten you, Ender Dragon." The dragon growled again, but when it spoke there was an oddly feminine tone to its voice now, which hadn't been present before.

"I did not expect you to possess magic, much less at the level of a high warlock. But it matters not; even if you kill me, I will simply be reborn, and when I grow once again to proper size, I will beat you." Mordo chuckled darkly and closed the distance between them, telling the dragon in a low, menacing voice

"Oh, but it _does_ matter; I'm not going to kill you. You're far too powerful to simply waste your potential in death. No, I plan to make you my slave, and you will serve me as I work to dominate all four Realms, starting with this one." The dragon's eyes widened in astonishment, then narrowed in hatred as it hissed

"You are a filthy, human magician; I am a proud dragon. I shall never serve under you." Mordo smirked and remarked

"I was hoping you would say that; I want to test the full potential of my power, and what better subject than the Ender Dragon itself?" Before the dragon could argue in protest, Mordo extended a hand and used a tendril of energy to wrap around the dragon's muzzle, effectively shutting it up. The Enderpeople gathered around the scene were astonished, and many indignant, but none dared raise a hand against Mordo. Continuing on, the magician held a glowing hand in the air and began to trace a circle in midair; he then drew a five-pointed star within the circle, creating a pentagram.

Finished, he waved the hand upward and motioned pushing out, sending the pentagram above the Ender Dragon. Once it was in place, Mordo spread his hands apart, and the pentagram increased in size until it could cover the Ender Dragon, which was the next step. The Ender Dragon fought valiantly and tiredly against the magic draping over it, but it held firm and soon it couldn't move so much as an inch. It growled furiously and attempted to struggle, but to no avail. Mordo chuckled and walked up, placing a hand on the dragon's snout, and for the first time in the Enderpeople's history, they saw fear in their guardian's eyes. Frowning now, Mordo began to chant

"_Memories of old and feelings of regret, and emotions against me that you beget, let these go as you forget, and choose to serve me in eternal debt!" _The Ender Dragon's eyes immediately changed from their fearful state to one of complete emptiness, showing no emotion. Once Mordo lifted his hand, the emptiness disappeared and the dragon's gaze turned reverently to its new master. Mordo grinned and told it

"We're almost finished; I just need to do one more thing." If it was capable of doing so, the dragon would have nodded. Mordo placed his hand once again on the dragon's snout, concentrated deeply, and chanted

"_This single form isn't enough for what I need you to do; therefore, to accomplish my means, I shall give you two: One shall be for destruction, the other when you address me. But no matter where you go, you shall strike fear in all you see. The first is the form you already wear, the second will be one of great care. Once the spell is cast, your form will change and take hold; I will release you, and as your first task, you will stand and be bold." _The lines of the pentagram shone brightly then, and the glow seeped onto the Ender Dragon itself. Gradually, the glowing shape decreased in size, until it was about the size of an average human, though the shape could hardly be mistaken for human; the remaining glow fanned out where the tail-end of the dragon was, as well as a straight, arrow-shape that jutted out from the very back. Topping the figure were two irregularly jutted shapes that were indiscernible to anything practical at face value.

At last the glow began to fade, from the back toward the front. It crawled up the newly created form, revealing the figure bit by bit and gathering at the top, revealing a face until the last bit of the glow crawled into the eyes. They closed for a brief moment, and the figure stood up fully, a head shorter than Mordo, but no less intimidating.

The new form of the Ender Dragon took the shape of a young woman; she was clothed in a voluminous deep black dress that nevertheless hugged around her waist and continued in that fashion the rest of the way up her torso and down her arms. An intricate pattern existed on the sleeves that gave the impression of being studded with scales, or even being made of scales at the right angle. The two large protrusions had proved to be wings, which still resembled those of her draconic form. The spines of the wings were black as pitch, while the webbing in between the was a dark shade of gray. Finally, the skin that showed was porcelain-white all the way from what little showed of the V-cut of her dress to the top of her face.

Her face itself held an ambiguous attitude, as though the slightest thing could quickly shift her mood in any direction. Upon opening them, her gleaming amethyst eyes shone through the darkness of the void, and carried with them both a sense of authority, but at the same time a strange sort of indentured servitude. Her mouth was currently covered by the same tendril of energy that Mordo had used to silence her in her dragon form. Topping her head was a full head of thick, dark purple hair, which ran long down her back, between her shoulders and the crook of her wings. She reached up slowly and grabbed the energy gag that prevented her from speaking, then looked at Mordo, as if asking permission. Mordo nodded once and waved his hand; she tore the gag off, stood regally, then stated

"I am yours to command, Master. What would you have of me?" Mordo smirked and answered

"When you address me, I want you to call me 'Father'. Do you understand?" She nodded once and replied

"Yes, Father." Mordo grinned in satisfaction and continued

"Additionally, I will give you a name. From this moment forth, you will be known as Encarna, reiterating that I incarnated you and gave you new purpose." Encarna bowed at the waist to Mordo, saying

"Thank you, Father. I will treasure my new name to the end of my days." Mordo grinned once again, then turned to the captive audience of Enderpeople, proclaiming

"I have commanded the servitude of your guardian, and if need be I'll command yours the same way!" Many of the Enderpeople looked among one another, mirroring looks of fear. Finally, one stepped forward and knelt in front of Mordo, asking

"If we join you and choose not to oppose your rule, will you allow us our freedom in your kingdom?" Mordo considered the Enderman in front of him, then asked

"What is your name?" The Enderman gulped nervously before replying

"Endreia, Your Highness."

"No." Endreia looked up fearfully, seeing Mordo with his hands clasped behind his back. Mordo added

"I will not be addressed as 'Highness', nor 'King'. You will all address me as your Lord, and when I rule all the Realms, as a god. Do you and your people understand?" Endreia gulped once more before bowing his skeletal face and answered

"Yes, My Lord. Are we to address you by name, or will Lord simply suffice?" Mordo began walking, causing Endreia to flinch. Mordo ignored and walked past him, addressing the crowd as a whole.

"You shall all address me as Lord Mordo; anyone who dissents shall face the severest penalty, death." Not so much as a breath was heard as Mordo delivered his chilling speech. Mordo turned and motioned to the still-bowing Enderman who had first addressed him;

"Endreia." The Enderman flinched but stood and turned, replying nervously

"Yes, Lord Mordo?" The dark magician approached and placed a hand on Endreia's shoulder, telling him

"For being the first to approach me directly and accepting me as your ruler, I am making you the general of the army I will raise. You will lead them into the various Realms and do as I say to assert my rule. But make no mistake; I will not accept failure, and if you _do_ fail me, the consequences will be severe. Am I understood?" Endreia bowed down and answered

"Yes, Lord Mordo. I shall not fail you." Mordo grinned and told him

"You're bound to fail at least once; I will be forgiving in that instance and that instance alone. Afterward, my forgiveness will extend only as far as I allow, and won't hesitate to make an example out of you." Endreia nodded and replied

"I understand, My Lord. I promise to do as you say and spread the word of your rule." Mordo grinned widely, a small chuckle forming in his throat, which grew to a louder laugh before becoming a full-throated bellowed evil laugh of victory.

**Alright, that finishes up this chapter. Now, the next one will be coming out within the week, but I'm not entirely sure what the word count will be; you see, I never bothered to count out the words that I wrote down, just the number of pages it took to write it out on (and yes, I mean in physical paper). Be that as it may, I'm hoping to get anywhere from 1500 to 2000 words each new chapter, but I guess we'll see. At any rate, I'll see you all next time!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Like I promised, here's the next chapter. It'll be a while before I figure out what I can really say in these Author's Notes, but you're not here for that anyway, so just enjoy the story.**

Jason walked on the path toward the village, which wasn't in his sight yet due to a large hill he would have to climb, but he welcomed the exercise anyway. He had his trusty wolf, Max, beside him as usual, and was hoping to purchase a few pieces of meat from the vendor who had become much more friendly now that he had paid his dues. He also wanted to pay Claire, the fortune-teller, another visit in the hopes that she could give him a better idea of what supposed adventure he would be taking. Of course, his father had been blatantly against the idea, because as the Crown Prince, Jason had a responsibility to the very people he was visiting, as well as the Overworld as a whole.

His father, King Eldritch, ruled over the Overworld Realm; naturally, he could not oversee everything everywhere, so the lands were split into various fiefdoms, ruled by different kings. However, they all bowed to his father, and when times of crisis occurred, they all looked to him for guidance. All of this Jason would inherit when his father stepped down from the throne, and like any boy his age would be, Jason was excited at the idea of being a king of kings. His father continually warned him that it wasn't going to be easy, nor would it be all fun, but Jason seldom paid any attention to his warnings. Just as they were halfway up the hill, Max stopped, raising his hackles, and began to growl low and deep, prompting Jason to stop and ask

"What's wrong, boy?" Max barked in the direction of the village, and as if in answer, a monstrous roar sounded off. Jason flinched, then bolted for the top of the hill, common sense shouting at him to run the other way, but curiosity pushing him onward. By the time he reached the top of the hill, he was out of breath and took a moment to lean on his knees as he tried to regain it. However, sounds of immense destruction and screams of terror commanded his immediate attention. When he looked up, though, he wished that he hadn't.

Before him, a monstrous black dragon was crushing and destroying all of the houses, the vendor's stalls, and various other buildings in the village. More than once, he spotted as a hapless villager was crushed underfoot the dragon, though whether by design or accident wasn't clear. Nevertheless, it was a gruesome sight to behold, and sent Jason running to the side of the road, where he expelled the contents of his stomach violently. The after-effects left him shaking, but a sudden explosion not from the village commanded his attention.

He looked back in the direction he had come from, and saw a plume of smoke rising from his home, the castle. He slowly stood up, staring disbelievingly, until another explosion, further inside, went off. At that point, Jason took off running back down the hill, heading for the castle, determined to put an end to the madness. But despite telling himself that such a thing was possible, his heart pounded with intense fear, the blood and adrenaline coursing through his body.

It was at the very least a mile's run to the castle, and Jason saw that the front gates, nearly three times his height and two feet thick, had seemingly been blown off their hinges. The guards nearby had been slain mercilessly, though it didn't look to be by conventional means. Pushing past the horrifying scene, Jason ran up the walkway to what was quickly becoming the ruins of a castle he had called home. He ran through the doors- which had been blown off their hinges as well- and came across a scene of absolute madness; bodies of servants were strewn unceremoniously, those still alive ran around like chickens with their heads cut off, and finally Endermen could be seen looting the castle, grabbing everything of value.

Seeing this, Jason ripped his golden sword out of its scabbard and leapt at the nearest Enderman. It looked at him and teleported back, back-handing him and sending Jason to the cold, hard floor. The still-seething youth leapt back up and resumed his attack, but the Enderman once again teleported out of the way and reappeared in front of him, grabbing his shirt with black, skeletal hands and lifted him up. Opening its expansive mouth to its widest extent, it screamed loudly in Jason's face. After the Enderman finished its scream, Jason demanded

"Why are you doing this?! Who sent you?!" The Enderman grinned dementedly, then pulled him close and whispered something in its guttural language, which Jason didn't understand. The Enderman threw him away like a rag doll, sending Jason crashing onto the floor harshly. Jason scrambled up once again, intending to go back, but when he heard a thunderous crash on his right, he turned and realized that it was the entrance to the throne room, where his father was. Paling, Jason bolted for the throne room and burst in, seeing only two beings inside; his father, and what appeared to be a human-sized Enderman. His father caught a glimpse of him and shouted

"Jason, run away! Get out of here, now!" The human-sized Enderman turned his head, revealing red instead of purple eyes, which chilled Jason to the bone and seemed to prevent him from moving from where he stood. The Enderman smirked and spoke, his voice dark and chilling.

"Your precious son, I presume?" Neither Jason nor his father spoke, and the Enderman continued

"Well, no matter. It is you that I came for, King Eldritch. You see, I intend to dominate all the Realms and become the sovereign ruler of them all. I have already claimed the End, and next on my list is the Overworld. So while you are still alive, I can't quite do that." King Eldritch stared at him a moment before exclaiming

"You're mad!" The human-sized Enderman shrugged noncommittally, replying

"Mad or not, I've already begun my success. And I intend to continue." With that, he pulled a strange sword out of a scabbard Jason hadn't noticed before; the pommel, hilt, and crossguard of the sword was the darkest shade of blade imaginable, but the blade itself was the same shade and even intensity of purple of a regular Enderman's eyes. The sight of the blade sent shivers up Jason's spine, and the Enderman wielding the sword said

"Yes, it's intimidating, isn't it? I found out about this precious treasure from my new daughter and servant. Perhaps you've seen her? She's the Ender Dragon, laying waste to the village just a walk away." King Eldritch blanched, horrified, and Jason blurted out

"That monstrosity is your _daughter_?" The Enderman chuckled and replied

"That's right, and she'll serve me well in the future. But for now…" He whirled around unexpectedly and slashed King Eldritch in the neck with the Enderblade, causing blood to gush out uncontrollably and the king to fall. Jason stood for a moment before he screamed

"Dad!" He rushed over to his father's side, pressing his hand against his father's neck to try and stop the bleeding. He looked back at the human-sized Enderman, who was busy wiping the blade free of the king's blood. He looked at Jason briefly, then told him

"He's a lost cause, and so are you. It's not even worth dirtying my blade with your blood. But know this; my name is Mordo, and I am the Lord of the End, and I won't stop until I rule _all_ the Realms of the world." His statement made, Mordo teleported out of the castle, leaving Jason with his dying father in his arms. The man whispered hoarsely

"Jason… come… closer…" Jason bent his head, tears flooding down his face as he listened intently. His father grasped his son by his head, pulling him so his ear hovered over his mouth, whereupon the dying man told his son

"I love you, son… and I'm proud of you. May Notch's blessing follow you." His grip slackened, his hand fell to the floor, and the king breathed his last. Jason sat up, frantically shaking him and tearfully begging

"Dad, get up! Please get up!" But the king was dead and could not move anymore. As the initial shock wore off, only a numb sensation was left behind; Jason shakily stood back up, staring at his father's prone body. Then, without conscious thought to what he was doing, he shuffled out of the throne room and down the hallways he knew so well. By this time, the Endermen had taken everything of value, and all that was left were the bodies of those they had slain. Jason shuffled past them all, barely seeing them. He also didn't notice when Max nuzzled his hand, trying to offer comfort.

At last Jason made his way outside, and at that point his senses started to come back to him; he turned and looked at the ruined castle, then down at himself, realizing he was covered in his father's blood. He began to pant heavily, starting to panic. Then he looked down at Max, who was looking at him with concern. Finally Jason said, mostly to himself but also partly to Max

"We have to get out of here… he might come back, or the guards might take us in! We have to leave, now!" With that said, Jason bolted out of the gates, avoiding bodies and puddles of blood along the way. After leaving the gates, instead of taking the path that led to the village, he veered off and headed for the woods; he reasoned in his frenzied mind that the Ender Dragon had already destroyed the village and killed everyone there, and he had no desire to see more bodies. He ran as fast and hard as he could, ignoring the protests his body railed against him. Eventually, however, he could run no more, and stumbled a little further on until his body collapsed entirely and he blacked out.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Jason's eyes fluttered open for a moment before slowly opening and seeing a wooden ceiling above him. He groaned and tried to sit up, but his body immediately screamed in protest, a testament of the abuse it had taken recently. At his groan, footsteps sounded for a moment before a strange figure came into his field of view.

"Oh thank Notch you're awake! I was afraid you'd never wake up!" Jason observed the figure more closely; it was a small, wiry man with fly-away bright red hair, goggles across his forehead, a leather apron that appeared to be well-used, and a strange smoky smell about him. After taking the strange figure in, Jason looked around and realized he was in a bedroom, which was lit up expertly but had no portraits. It was very simply, sparsely decorated, but nonetheless functional. Jason looked back to the red-headed man and asked

"Where am I? And who are you?" The man shuffled his feet, wrung his hands together, and began to explain

"My name is Jack Georgesson, but everybody calls me Red, partly because of my hair and partly because I'm a redstone engineer. You're in my bedroom, in my cabin toward the back of the woods bridging the Eldritch Kingdom. I was out collecting wood when that dragon appeared and started destroying the village where I lived, so I ran back here. After a few hours, I came back out to see if there were any survivors, when I heard a wolf howling for help. That's when I found you, and dragged you back here to recover." At that moment, Max burst into the room and jumped on the bed, licking Jason's face repeatedly until Jack stated

"You have a very loyal wolf; the only way I could get him out to let you rest was to tempt him with some food." Jason wrinkled his nose, adding

"Ate most of it, too." Jason hid a smirk, then told him

"I'm sorry; I'll reimburse you." Jack nodded gratefully, then asked

"So, who are you to be passing out in the middle of the woods?" Jason groaned as he straightened himself out, answering

"My name is Jason Eldritch." Jack's eyes widened, and he hastened down to one knee, stuttering

"I-I'm s-s-sorry, Your Highness, if I had kn-known it was y-y-you, I would have hurried to help you." Jason waved it off, saying

"Don't worry about it. Actually, I should thank you for saving me." Jack chuckled nervously, replying

"It's my pleasure, Your Highness. But… forgive me, Your Highness, but what happened to the Eldritch Castle?" All at once, the memories of recent past flooded Jason's mind, and he shuddered as he struggled not to cry, Jack noticed this and immediately apologized profusely.

"Forgive me, Your Highness, I didn't mean to upset you!" Jason finally snapped angrily

"Stop calling me that! I am no one's 'Highness', and I'm tired of watching you snivel!" He immediately regretted his tone, especially after seeing Jack shrink back, as if stung. He took a minute to compose himself, then said in a much gentler tone

"I'm sorry I snapped at you. It's just… I watched as Mordo murdered my father, and held him as he died." Jack's eyes widened again, though he didn't say anything. Jason added

"Right now, I could use a friend more than a servant." Jack hesitated before nodding and saying

"Of course, Your- I mean, of course, Jason. I'm sorry to hear about your father; I lost my own parents to a plague of Zombies. I was on my own, until my master took me in and taught me everything I know about redstone." Jason listened to him, trying to drive the racking sobs fighting to get out back down. After a somewhat detailed history of Jack's knowledge, he stood and said

"Here I am talking your ears off, and I bet you haven't eaten anything in a while." Jason thought back, then shrugged and replied

"It doesn't matter; I don't have an appetite anyway." Jack argued

"Appetite or not, it won't do any good to starve yourself. Come on, let's go eat some dinner, then you can go back to sleep." Jason sighed defeatedly, knowing Jack wouldn't let up, and was probably right anyway. He stood up stiffly, then followed Jack out of the room and into a large room that was separated into three parts; a living room, a kitchen, and a dining room. Jack hurried into the kitchen and pulled out a couple plates and silverware, along with a platter on which sat the food they would be eating; pork chops, baked potatoes, and boiled carrots. Jack once again apologized

"I'm sorry it's not much, I wasn't expecting guests, and-" Jason held up a hand, interrupting him.

"It's fine, really; thank you for sharing your food with me." Jack finally smiled and nodded. The two sat down at the small table and doled out the food, including a couple pork chops for Max. Halfway through their meal, though, Max looked up, his ears perked. Jason noticed, but before he could say anything, a knock sounded on the front door. Jack seemed confused, standing up and saying as he walked to the door

"That's odd. I wonder who it could be…" Jason waited, an uneasy feeling settling in his gut. His fears were confirmed as Jack screamed and scuffling was heard. Jason jumped from his seat, drawing his sword and running to the living room, finding Jack in a headlock by a tall and imposing man wearing light blue plate armor, which he recognized as diamond armor. He also wielded a diamond sword, which he held underneath Jack's trmebling chin. The man demanded

"Gimme all of your valuables, and nobody has to get hurt!" Jack began to splutter

"I don't have anything of value, besides my knowledge of redstone, which I'd be happy to teach you-" The man cut him off by pressing his sword against his throat, hissing

"I don't give a silverfish's life worth to redstone. If you don't do as I tell you, there _will_ be problems." Jason had enough, brandishing his sword and shouting

"Let him go!" The man looked up, seeming to notice him for the first time, then laughed heartily, asking

"Who are you to be commanding me, whelp?" Jack intervened, somewhat unwisely.

"That's Jason Eldritch, Prince of the Overworld! So you better do what he says, you brute!" The man looked at Jack briefly, then threw him down and bellowed in laughter, shouting derisively

"Prince of the Overworld! That title don't mean shit anymore! Now that the filthy Enders have started to take over, it's a dog-eat-dog world!" Both Jack and Jason stared wide-eyed at the man's use of the word "Enders". It was a derogatory word, considered by many to be a racist remark about Endermen. Once the man finished his laughter, he looked at the two before him, frowned, then pointed his sword at Jack, asking

"Have I seen you somewhere before?" Jack thought for a moment, then replied

"Well, if you lived in the village, it's possible I set the redstone wiring in your home." The man frowned, then snapped his fingers, as if remembering.

"Oh yeah, now I remember you! You're the only guy who was willing to set the wiring to my underground tunnel!" Jack nodded, replying

"Yes, I remember that., though I don't remember your name." The man smirked and proclaimed

"Name's Darius, a well-known Enderslayer! If you got a problem of the End variety, I'm your guy!" Jack and Jason looked at each other for a moment, then Jason remarked

"Well, we _do_ have a problem of the End variety; in fact, the whole world will have that problem." Darius frowned, countering

"The Overworld might, but the Nether and Aether are safe; the Enders don't go there." Jason winced at the way the man used the racist term so offhandedly, then argued

"They will now that Mordo commands their loyalty." Darius continued to frown, asking

"And who in the Nether is Mordo?" Jason shook his head, answering

"Not the Nether, the End. He told me he commanded the Ender Dragon as his daughter. He plans to rule all four Realms." Darius thought for a moment, then asked

"What'd he look like?" Jason shuddered as he remembered, but managed to answer

"He looks like an Enderman, except for being the size of a man… and his eyes, which are like redstone chips." Darius scowled, saying

"I know the bastard. He broke into my house and stole all of my Pearls and Eyes, then broke my diamond sword. Had some kinda magic or somethin'." Jason simply nodded, and Darius added

"The next time I see him, I'm gonna kill him good." Jason bristled at that, retorting

"No. He's mine to kill by right." Darius scoffed and rested his sword on his shoulder, asking

"And why does a whelp like you deserve to kill that filthy Ender more than a seasoned veteran?" Jason walked up to Darius, all traces of fear gone even though he was a full head and a half shorter than him. Tears sprinkled in his eyes as he hissed

"He murdered my father in front of me, and left him to die in my arms; he destroyed my home and claimed my inheritance." Darius lowered his arm holding his sword solely, looking at Jason differently before saying

"In other words, he's besmirched your honor, and you need to reclaim it." Jason nodded once, and Darius sighed, not defeated as much as annoyed.

"Well, that's annoying. I'll never convince you to give this ridiculous idea up. But you're not exactly much of a threat on your own, just lookin' at ya. What's your plan?" At that, Jason sagged inward, replying dully

"I don't know." Darius scoffed, saying

"Great plan. Lemme know how it works out." Jason glared at him before walking back to the living room couch, slamming his sword back into the sheath and himself on the chair. Jack finally walked up, whereupon Darius asked him in a low whisper

"What's his problem?" Jack replied in a similarly hushed voice

"He hasn't had the chance to mourn his father yet. When I first found him, he was nearly coated in what I assume was his blood." Darius winced at that, seeming a little more sympathetic than when he first arrived. Then he took off the diamond helmet he wore and sighed as he brushed his hair back. He walked over to the couch and sat next to Jason, taking a moment before talking to him.

"Look, kid, I'm sorry I was rough on ya. I didn't exactly have an easy life, and I've always been… well, a little-" Jason interjected suddenly

"Brusque?" Darius paused, then shrugged and replied

"Yeah, I guess you could put it like that. You don't know my history; you probably don't care, either, but it's only fair that you know." Jason glanced at him from the corner of his eye, but didn't respond. Darius took a deep breath, then began to talk at length.

"When I was a boy, I lived in a farming family. It wasn't much, but we got by and we were happy together. But… like all good things, it couldn't last forever. One night, an Enderman teleported into our house, taking us by surprise. My father tried to fight it off… but the Enderman killed him." Jason started listening more attentively now, noticing that Darius' voice became more strained as he continued

"In a move of terror, my mother grabbed my baby sister and took a glass of water, throwing it at the Enderman; they hate water, it burns them like fire. That only made it madder, and it teleported behind her and snapped her neck; my sister fell and her temple struck the corner of the table. He wasn't payin' any attention to me, though, and I jumped him, latching onto his back and putting his right eye out with a knife. I screamed 'Destroyer!' as I did, and to this day that's what I've known him as; the Destroyer." He took a moment to compose himself, and finished

"I wandered alone, eating scraps and garbage to survive, until I met an old swordsman who agreed to teach me what he knew. From then on, I devoted myself to killing Endermen, searching for the Destroyer especially; his is an Ender Pearl that I will specially mount." Jason took that in, then asked hollowly

"Did you ever stop to think that you might be killing innocent Endermen?" Darius scoffed, saying obstinately

"No Ender is innocent; they're all thieves, and if you so much as glance at them, even by accident, they'll try to kill you. Does that sound like innocence to you?" Jason had no answer and so kept his silence. Darius continued

"They've never given me any reason to show mercy, and neither should you. I'll tell you what; you're in no way ready to take on a guy with the power to conquer the Ender Dragon, so I'll train you." Jason frowned slightly, asking

"What can you teach me that I don't already know?" Darius considered him for a moment, then unexpectedly punched him in the face. Jason's head snapped to the side; he turned it back, glaring, and threw his own punch, but Darius was expecting it and easily caught the fist, then twisted Jason's arm and forced him off the couch and onto the floor, pinning him. Jack watched in apt horror, not knowing what to do. Darius knelt down and told Jason blatantly

"You can't even properly defend yourself against me, and you expect to take on a magician who commands the End? You wouldn't stand a chance." Max growled and lunged at the man hurting his friend, but Darius expected even that; his hand lashed forward and snatched Max by the collar, forcing him down as well. Jason cried out

"Let him go!" Darius scoffed and retorted

"So he can attack me? I don't think so. Admit it, kid; you need my help." Jason struggled vainly, trying to get out of the hold, but couldn't break it. After a minute, he sighed in defeat.

"Alright… I admit it. I need help, but I don't have many options." Darius smirked and let both him and Max go, standing up and offering a hand to Jason while saying

"The first step to greatness is learning where you're weak. I'll help you overcome some of this, but I can only take you so far; the rest you have to do yourself." Jason reluctantly nodded and took his hand, getting help up. Then he stated

"Before we start, though, I need to get some stuff from the castle, and bury my father." Darius nodded grimly.

"Do you want help?" Jason shook his head, saying

"No. This is something I have to do on my own." Darius nodded once more, replying

"I understand. We'll get started tomorrow." Jack blinked, interjecting

"Tomorrow? Why so soon? He still needs to recover!" Darius turned to him, answering

"Would you rather the king rotted where he was killed?" Jack blanched, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water, and he turned to Jason apologetically, but he raised his hand and told him

"I know you didn't mean it like that. Don't worry about me, though. Besides, I need to get stronger." Jack hesitated, then nodded reluctantly. He turned to Darius and offered

"You can stay here the night… even though you attacked me and held me hostage." Darius nodded, saying

"Sorry about that. Ever since the… attack… I've just been really on edge." Jack nodded in return.

"Alright. In that case, let's finish our dinner and go to bed. I believe in rising early to get the most work done." Darius smirked, remarking

"Sounds like you and I will get along." Jack chuckled nervously, and the group went back to the dining room, giving Darius some of the food and eating in silence. After finishing dinner, they worked out bed arrangements, and once everybody was happy, they all went off to bed, Jack turning out the lights.

**Well, there you go everybody! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next one! See ya next time!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello, everybody, and welcome back to another chapter. I don't have much to say, so I hope you enjoy what I have to offer.**

Mordo teleported with Encarna in her second form beside him a short distance away from the next castle on his mental list. Encarna looked at him, asking

"Shall I shift form and lay waste to this kingdom, Father?" Mordo smirked as she called him that, but answered

"No, remain as you are; don't do anything without my permission or orders." Encarna nodded.

"Yes, Father." Smirking, Mordo led the way toward the castle. The guards at the gates narrowed their eyes suspiciously, shifting the grips on their spears as one asked

"Who goes there? Be you friend or foe?" Mordo simply waved a hand and caused them to slam into the hard oak gates; with another wave of the hand, he used their bodies to force the gates open, leaving them to flop on the ground. As he and Encarna passed, Mordo spoke to the guard who had challenged them;

"I'll let you figure it out." He continued forward, waving his hands left and right to deflect arrows and fling attacking guards like rag dolls. Encarna watched as each man was flung around without a care, impressed by the display of power. Once they reached the doors of the castle itself, Mordo told Encarna

"Open the doors for me, would you?" Encarna nodded and without a word walked up to the castle doors, grabbing at the handles of both and yanking back hard. The doors splintered apart, and she threw the chunks she still gripped aside. Mordo chuckled and told her as he walked forward

"Good show of strength, Encarna; be ready to show more of your abilities." Encarna simply replied

"Yes, Father." By the time they finished their exchange, they reached the throne room, where the rather portly king seated upon the throne stared aghast and spluttered

"What is the meaning of this?! Who in the Nether are you, and how dare you invade my castle?!" Mordo's face remained composed as he replied

"My name is Mordo, and the meaning of this is to tell you that I've personally killed King Eldritch, and I'm here to assert control over your 'kingdom'." The king blanched, then stood and commanded

"Kill this traitorous bastard!" The remainder of the guards surrounded the pair, pointing their weapons at them. Mordo smirked and looked at Encarna, nodding once. Without a word but with a sudden dry rustle, her wings snapped open and struck a few guards unexpectedly, and the gale that followed blew many of them aside like dead leaves. Encarna darted forward, the folds of her dress flapping loudly behind her as she attacked a few of the other guards. In less than a minute, it was done; all the remaining guards lay unconscious or dead in front of the king, who at this point looked like a ghost of his former self. Mordo walked forward, unbothered by the carnage before him, and told the king

"I think we can continue, now. As I was saying, I've come to assume command of your kingdom; I don't necessarily need you to rule it under my name." The king fell to his knees and begged pathetically

"Please, spare me! I'll give you whatever you want, the kingdom, my loyalty, even my daughter!" Mordo's lip curled in disgust, and he spat

"You sniveling coward. You would sell out your own family just to spare your worthless life? I'll take what I want, but you are not on the list." He raised a hand and snapped his finger, and with a choked gurgle the fat king fell aside, dead. Encarna raised an eyebrow and remarked

"I could have killed him for you, Father; I would have been glad to do it." Mordo turned away and replied

"I wanted to dispose of such filth myself. It is no consequence." Encarna remained silent as Mordo snapped his finger again, but this time an Enderman teleported in front of him and bowed, greeting

"Lord Mordo." Mordo got to the point quickly, ordering

"Endreia, I want you and your troops to sack this castle; take any and everything of value and bring it to the End. Do you understand?" Endreia nodded, asking

"And what of anyone who remains?" Mordo answered

"Offer them the chance to join me; thanks to my magic, you should be able to speak their language. If they fight, kill them. If they decline, let them go. But if they agree to join us, bring them to the End so I may judge them myself. And one more thing; if you should find any wizards or witches, make sure to bring them, whether or not they agree, but do not harm them. Am I understood?" Endreia bowed his head, replying

"Yes, Lord Mordo; as you have commanded it, so it shall be done." With that, Endreia teleported to gather the army under his command to carry out Mordo's orders. He soon returned with a legion of Endermen and began their tasks. They started by rounding up the bodies of the fallen and throwing them unceremoniously in a pile outside the gates. Those still living watched as they worked, and soon all the dead were rounded up. Meanwhile, several other Endermen rounded up the remaining living. A few fought, adding to the overall pile of the dead, after which dissent became less and less prominent. Once the rest of the living were in one place, Endreia stepped up and began to speak to them in their tongue, and while he was capable of the task, the language nevertheless felt strange to his mouth.

"Do any of you here wish to join your comrades in the land of the dead?" Aside from a few muttered whispers, no one said anything, making Endreia smirk with satisfaction.

"Good. Now, do any of you wish to join Lord Mordo's cause as he seeks to rule all?" Once again there were a few muttered whispers, but this time a young woman, dressed resplendently, stepped forward and asked

"If I agree to join, what can I expect?" Endreia explained

"You will be brought to the End and stand council with Lord Mordo, where he will judge you and determine if he wants you within his reign. Beyond that, I do not know." The woman considered her options for a moment, and inquired further

"And if I choose neither to join nor to fight?" Endreia motioned to the splintered door, telling her

"Then you are free to leave as you wish, but you shall receive no help from us." The young woman thought for a moment, then stated

"I am not pleased by the idea of working with the one who murdered my father, even if I hated him. Nevertheless, I would not be able to survive on my own, as I was not raised for any such possibilities. Therefore, I will join you." Endreia smirked and watched as many of the servants slowly joined their princess to join Mordo, and the rest who refused went to gather their belongings and walked out the doors and gates, stridently ignoring the sight of their fallen kin lying in a large pile.

Back at the castle, Endreia gathered those who wished to join in a tight group, then motioned his next in command forward. He was a strange Enderman in that his right eye was covered with a haphazard eyepatch for reasons Endreia didn't understand. Although plain and simple, the eyepatch nevertheless gave the Enderman an intimidating visage coupled with the fact that his remaining eye seemed laced with a combination of eternal anger and partial lunacy. Endreia shuddered at the sight, but pushed forward in his task.

"What is your name?" The one-eyed Enderman grinned somewhat dementedly and replied in a low voice

"Long ago, I gave up my birth name for one I favor more; Destroyer." Endreia took that in for a moment before saying

"Very well… Destroyer… I want you and five others to escort these humans to Lord Mordo so he may judge them as he sees fit." Destroyer narrowed his single eye, as if weighing whether or not to rebel against Endreia. In the end, however, he called forth five of his compatriots, and together they surrounded the fearful humans and teleported the entire group to the End. Endreia turned to the remainder of his legion and commanded

"Search everywhere in this castle, and wherever you find anything of value, take it; so has Lord Mordo decreed." They all nodded and set to work whilst Endreia watched, making sure they did their jobs correctly. Once they had all the valuables collected, Endreia ordered them taken to the End. What exactly Lord Mordo planned to do with such items was a mystery to him, but he wasn't about to question the man who had brought the Ender Dragon to her knees. He did a quick once-over of the castle, then teleported to the wall where just beyond the bodies of the fallen laid. He took out a torch that Mordo had given him, struck it against the rough surface of the stones, and the torch lit ablaze. Endreia tossed the torch down on the pile of bodies, making sure they caught alight. After he was certain he had done as Mordo commanded, he teleported back to his home Realm, the End.

He observed as the captives brought were being rounded up to be judged by Mordo, and further off the treasure was being sorted through. Satisfied, Endreia teleported to the house where Mordo was temporarily staying until he decreed otherwise. Endreia hesitated before entering, looking around. The house was empty except for a desk with many writings, none of which Endreia understood. There was also a bed, but nothing else existed in the one-room house. Just as Endreia began to wonder where Mordo was, he heard the magician's chilling voice behind him, asking

"What are you doing in my home, Endreia? Trying to unravel my plans, hmm?" Endreia whirled around and went to his knee, saying quickly and nervously

"No, Lord Mordo, I would never do such a thing. I came here to give you my report." Mordo grunted and walked into the house, closing the door behind him. He sat himself in his chair in front of the desk and told Endreia

"Very well, give your report." Endreia sighed in relief, then stood and turned around to face him, relaying

"After you gave me your orders and left, I gathered the legion and we set about doing your will. Many of the humans rebelled, and we dispatched them. Others left when I told them they could leave, but more agreed to join us. I had one of our own, who goes by the name Destroyer, escort them here, as you commanded. Then we set about relieving the castle of all the valuables you told us to. As we speak, they are being sorted." Mordo smirked, replying

Very good, Endreia. However, I'm interested by this… Destroyer. Tell me about him." Endreia shuddered at the thought of the one-eyed Enderman, but dared not disobey his ruler.

"He seems to be like any regular Enderman, except that he lacks his right eye, which he covers with a makeshift patch. In his remaining eye, though, he carries menace. I think he enjoys the thrill of killing others, simply because he can." Mordo smirked, remarking

"Interesting… I might have use for this… Destroyer." Endreia hesitated for a moment before saying

"My Lord, I have a question I've been wanting to ask, but I do not wish to incur your wrath." Mordo shrugged, telling him

"If you have a question, you won't receive an answer by not asking." Endreia nodded reluctantly, then asked

"My Lord, why are we gathering these 'valuables' from the Overworld? They have no value in the End, since we do not use them." Mordo smirked and stood, walking to his desk and shifting through the papers before pulling out a blue piece of paper that had white outlines of a castle, a structure Endreia had since become familiar with. Spreading it out on the desk, Mordo explained

"I have plans, Endreia, big plans. Part of those plans dictate that I take these valuables and use them to further my abilities to achieve my means. And the rest will be used to assure everyone who views upon my greatness that I am not one to be trifled with. Does that sufficiently answer your question, Endreia?" The Enderman quickly bowed and replied

"Yes, Lord Mordo. Thank you for taking the time to answer it." Mordo simply nodded, and Endreia teleported out of his house to help sort the valuables.

**Well, I hope you all enjoyed that. It's a bit shorter than the previous couple chapters, but sometimes there's only so much you can write before it becomes mundane and doesn't add anything to the chapter. Be that as it may, the next one will probably be longer, so look forward to that, and have a good day!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Welcome back, everybody! So, I've got a proposition for you all; if you have any questions about what I'm doing with this fic so far, or why I'm doing it, I'll make it into a brief Q&amp;A, either at the beginning or the end of the next few chapters, depending on what you want. So don't hesitate to ask any burning questions you may have, kay? Thanks, and enjoy this new chapter!**

The next day in the ruins of the village, it was dead silent except for the occasional chirp of an unfettered bird, until the sharp, resounding strike on wood resonated throughout the air. This repeated itself a couple times before shifting rubble could be heard, and a trapdoor emerged among the ruins; a diamond-helmeted head poked out and looked around briefly before a fully armored figure emerged and pulled out a red-haired wiry man and a dark-haired youth. The trio looked around carefully, whereupon Jack remarked

"This is horrible. How could anyone command the deaths of so many innocent people for no reason at all?" Darius spat

"He's a filthy Ender; he needs no reason!" Jason barely paid attention to either of them, placing Max down on the ground since the wolf couldn't climb a ladder. He stared up at the ruins of the Eldritch castle; while it still stood, there could be doubt in anyone's mind that it had been violated. Dreading the task ahead of him, he began the long trek up to his ruined home.

* * *

Finally reaching the gates, Jason gagged at the sight of the recently bloated bodies of the guards, who had been left to rot after being murdered. Jason covered his mouth with his sleeve and pushed forward, but a whine stopped him; he looked back and saw that Max refused to walk further in, the stench being too much for him. Jason told him

"It's alright, I'll be back in a bit, boy. Just stay there and wait for me." Max backed away a bit to escape the putrid cloud of death, then sat down and barked once. Jason half-grinned and turned around, heading for the castle once again and entering. The cloud of death hung more thickly without a viable outlet, and caused Jason to gag and throw up the meager breakfast he had stomached. Once all he had were dry heaves, he wiped his mouth and soldiered on. He took the familiar route back to the throne room and was met with the sight of his father's own bloated and blood-covered body, which was swarmed with flies. Jason gagged again, but had nothing left to vomit.

After regaining his composure, he approached his father's body and knelt beside it, looking upon his remains. He fought to hold back the tears, but failed thanks to his overwhelming grief and the stench of decay. Realizing it was pointless, Jason gave into his grief and wept without restraint. As he cried, flashes of memory came to him, memories of he and his father sharing time together as father and son; in particular, he remembered the times they had gone fishing, and on more than one occasion they had caught strange- and sometimes disturbing- items. Among them were books, enchanted books, sticks, and shockingly, a couple bones. Nevertheless, they treasured these times when the pressures of running the Overworld was off their shoulder.

He was also left to remember the pieces of advice the king had given to him, and he knew he would have to fulfill Claire's prediction now; he had no other choice. If he tried to stay and take his rightful place, Mordo would surely return and kill him, and of all things Jason was not ready to take the Enderlord on; Darius had proved that already.

Opening his eyes again, Jason looked at his father, then reached forward and closed his father's eyes. Getting his bearings back, he unclasped his father's royal cloak and picked up the crown that had rolled off his head when he fell after being struck down by Mordo. He carried these with him and walked throughout the castle, toward the workshop. Once there, he rifled through the tools until he found what he was looking for, a golden shovel. He took these out through the back of the castle and into the back courtyard toward the royal cemetery.

Some time ago, King Eldritch had a grave set aside for himself, next to the Queen, Jason's mother. He'd even had a tombstone mostly prepared, which at the time Jason had thought preposterous, but now was grimly satisfied that he had planned ahead. Jason went to the grave, remembering where his mother had been laid to rest, and placed the cloak and crown down. He took the shovel and began to dig in the soft dirt, setting it to the other side. After the grave was dug out, Jason went to the mortuary building and fetched his father's tombstone, carrying the heavy slab of rock to the fresh grave. He realized that the tombstone was unfinished, but he himself didn't have the time nor ability to complete it. He took the time to set the tombstone in place, then went back into the castle to fetch his father's body; he was taken aback by his father's dead weight, but continued regardless.

Eventually he managed to get his father's body to his final and slightly less-than-proper resting place. He gently set the body in, positioning it so that the king looked to be no more than asleep. Jason climbed out of the hole and looked down one more time at his father, finding himself crying again, but not minding it this time. He took up the shovel and began to replace the dirt, and in no time the grave was finished. Jason set the shovel aside and added his own finishing touches by draping his father's cloak over his tombstone and balancing the crown as a finishing tribute to the fallen king. Then Jason knelt in front of the graves of his parents, thinking about the journey that lay ahead of him, of the dangers he would no doubt face, but knew at the same time that it was his destiny. Whether he liked it or not was of no consequence; fate had thrusted the situation upon him, and now he had to deal with it accordingly.

Standing up with a sigh, he headed back for the castle. Intending to get whatever supplies he could. He knew the castle had been looted- he saw it happening himself- but he also had a secret compartment in his bedroom where he had kept his golden armor, as well as a big and sturdy pack in which there was a lot of storage space. And while he knew it was erroneous to believe the Endermen hadn't discovered it, he could still hope his armor was where it belonged.

Soon he reached his room and went immediately for the hidden switch to reveal the secret room, and heaved a sigh of relief as he spotted the telltale golden glitter of his armor. He went straight to the compartment and found the armor stand, laden with a golden helm, breastplate, leggings with greaves, and finally boots. The pack hung on a hook to his right, which he snatched up and began packing away his armor. He delved further in and once again sighed relief as he felt the bag in which was a load of gold ingots, meant to repair his armor when necessary or to use as money if he was desperate. He knew he would have to use it sparingly and cautiously, since thieves would love to have such a prize. He placed too in his pack, then tried to think of anything else that would prove helpful. Food he would have to find along his journey, as it would only weigh him down. He could take a couple tools with him, but would have to be careful about it, as he only possessed golden tools, which were known to be very at their tasks at the cost of durability. This also applied to his sword, which while it concerned him he knew it wouldn't do to fret about it.

Satisfied he had what he needed and could use, he slung the pack across his shoulder, then paused for a moment; for a reason he couldn't explain, he felt an urge to check his father's room. He debated whether or not he should before reasoning that if there was nothing to be had, he wouldn't be any worse off for trying, but if something existed that he could use, then that would prove invaluable. With that reasoning urging him onward, he left his room and angled for the king's bedroom, feeling slightly apprehensive, as he had never been allowed there before. Granted, there was no one to stop him, but the feeling nevertheless persisted.

Once he reached the large oak doors, he hesitated before pushing on open and stepping into his father's room. It had clearly been ransacked, but Jason could still depict ornate furniture and the large, torn-up canopy bed. He sighed walked inside, looking around; what caught his eye was the overturned dresser, particularly a small, partially covered white square. He walked over and knelt by it, brushing aside the clothes covering it to reveal an envelope, on the front of which was his name in what he recognized as his father's handwriting. His heart to his throat, and his fingers felt heavy as they fumbled to open the envelope. He pulled out a letter and unfolded it, then began to read.

_"Dear Jason._

_ If you are reading this, then I have been killed by a traitor and you are now on your own. I hope_

_ to have this conversation with you on your sixteenth birthday, but if your mother is to be _

_ believed, I won't be able to." _Jason's heart stopped for a moment, but he hurried on.

_"That's one of the main things I wanted to discuss with you, your mother. You see, Jason, she_

_ didn't quite pass away like I told you she had. I told you that she passed away because her _

_ heart gave out after giving birth to you. That wasn't entirely the case, though. My marriage to _

_ her wasn't very well received, because she was actually a peasant who lived in the village below _

_ us. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever known, but now I'm getting off track._

_ Your mother was a powerful clairvoyant, able to see the future. Shortly after giving birth to you,_

_ She made a prediction that shortly after your fifteenth birthday you would be orphaned and left_

_ to rid the world of an evil force. What I didn't know, however, was that these predictions took_

_ strength from her, and drained her of everything she had left. So, I was left as a single father _

_ with my predicted death looming over my head. In the years since, I've tried to teach you as _

_ much as I could, but it seemed like you had inherited my thick head. Be that as it may, even in_

_ death I still have something for you. There is in my room a secret compartment in which I placed _

_ a magic pack that will fit inside yours without too much trouble. I don't have all the time in the _

_ world to tell you what I packed for your journey, but here's something I _will_ tell you; in the very_

_ front of the pack is a secret pocket, and in that pocket is the ring I used to propose to your _

_ mother. I know she would have wanted you to have it, and I think it will serve you well when you _

_ find that special girl. There's so much I want to tell you, but I doubt I'll get to. So I'll end with this;_

_ I love you, Jason, and I've always been proud of you, even if you've upset me in the past. Your _

_ mother and I will be watching over you with Notch._

_ -With love,_

_ King Charles Eldritch,_

_ Your Father."_

Jason wiped the tears running down his cheeks, giving a watery smile. He gave a silent thanks to his father, then started looking around for the switch to the secret compartment mentioned in the he found it, and quickly spotted the glowing leather pack on a marble pedestal. Jason walked forward and undid the pocket on the front after a bit of searching to find it, reached inside, and pulled out a small ring made of gold that was inlaid with emeralds and topped with a bright blue diamond. Jason felt a lump in his throat but pushed it down and placed the ring back in the pocket, then placed the smaller pack inside his own. He also placed his father's letter inside the pack, then slung the pack across his shoulder. With everything in order, he walked through the walls of the Eldritch castle, left the ruined building, met up with Max at the entrance, and made his way back to the village ruins. There Darius and Jack were waiting for him, with Darius asking

"You get what you needed done?" Jason half-grinned and replied

"And more. I found my armor, the supply I need to maintain it, and even a note from my father with a gift of a magic pack for traveling." Darius frowned slightly, saying

"We'll have to take a look at that back at Red's house; I feel exposed out here." Jason nodded in agreement, and the three went back to Darius' ruined home, taking his underground tunnel back to the woods.

* * *

Back in Jack's cabin, Jason pulled out the magic pack and set it aside, then proceeded to pull out his armor for Darius' inspection. Darius took each piece and weighed it in his hands, then looked them over for any imperfections. Finally, he stated

"Gold ain't exactly your best option, ya know; not only does it stand out, but it wears out pretty quick. You'd be better off with iron, since it also doesn't weigh as much." Jason retorted

"It doesn't weigh any more than diamond armor, and my father and I personally forged it." That shut Darius up effectively, during which time Jack began to sort through the magic pack, pulling out various items, mainly wood, and a couple tools that proved to belong to a crafting table. Jack smirked and placed the crafting bench with the 9-square grid on the floor, remarking

"This will definitely come in handy. What else do we have in here?" Jack delved back inside the pack, then seemed to struggle for a minute before finally pulling a furnace out and setting it gently on the couch, staring askance now.

"That pack _must_ be magic if it can fit both a crafting table and a furnace with relative ease." Jason grinned and reached inside himself, pulling out several types of saplings, as well as variations of raw wood. Darius came forward and took one chunk of the wood, going straight to the crafting table. Jason and Jack watched him with interest until Darius suddenly headed wordlessly for the door. Blinking, Jason and Jack followed him outside, where the day was descending into afternoon. Suddenly, Darius whirled around and threw something at Jason, and out of sheer reflex he caught it. Inspection revealed it to be a standard stick. He looked up curiously at Darius, who held a stick of his own in an attacking position and told him

"Defend yourself." Jason scoffed, then turned and tossed the stick aside, remarking

"This is stupid." Jack yelled out a brief warning before stars erupted in Jason's field of view, and without quite knowing how it happened found himself with his face in the grass. He groaned and rolled himself face-up, only to find Darius pointing his own stick like a sword at Jason's throat, whereupon he growled

"Dead." Jason his head to recover his senses, then yelled out

"What in the Nether are you doing?!" Darius growled himself and walked to where Jason had carelessly thrown the stick and used a single foot to kick it into the air, snatching it up. He returned to Jason, who was standing back up and thrusted the stick at him, saying in a low voice

"Never throw your weapon away, and never, under _any_ circumstances, knowingly turn your back on your enemy. Now, defend yourself!" Jason snatched the stick and parried a blow aimed for his ribs, smirking smugly until Darius whipped the stick around and struck Jason in the temple, sending him to the ground unconscious. Jack winced, and Darius sighed

"This is gonna take a while."

**Well, that's what I got for ya guys. Hope you enjoyed that, and don't be afraid to send any questions you may have; I wanna know what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong. So, until next time!**


	8. Chapter 8

**What's up, everybody! Well, I promised I would be working on this again, and I intend to see that through. However, I've also noticed that while I invited you guys to ask any questions you had, there has been no feedback, meaning one of two outcomes is the case; either one, no one's reading the story, or two, no one has any questions. I know the first isn't true, and I don't believe the second is possible. But whatever the case, the offer still stands. With that, let's get to what you came for!**

Mordo stood in front of his desk in his tiny house in the End, staring at the sheets of paper that had the figures of the amount of valuables now in his possession. He grinned, seeing that the amount of diamonds and gold was particularly high, a fact that pleased him to no end.

"Those greedy fools, wrapped up in their desires to have riches. And look where those very riches got them; dead or in slavery." He chuckled to himself, then teleported from his house to the work area where the new slaves were hard at work, either crafting items at Endreia's command, or off hacking at the obsidian towers. Many of the Endermen had balked at the prospect of taking down the towers on which existed Ender Crystals that supplied Encarna with energy and even would heal her wounds if necessary. This was where the humans would be useful, since they held no such inhibitions.

Of course, that didn't mean that Mordo didn't take the Enderpeople's concerns to heart; in fact, he had personally relocated the Ender Crystals to a safe location until his castle was established, at which point he would again relocate them for the purpose of both embellishing the castle and keeping Encarna strong while in the End. He teleported to a field where many of the obsidian spires had been toppled and were currently being hacked away, mostly by men. Others carefully picked up the shards, many of which could- and sometimes did- cut those working with them. They loaded the shards into minecarts and sent them rolling down to another area where they were carefully sorted based on their size. Mordo teleported once again to this area, taking many of the humans by surprise, and they launched themselves to their knees, followed by an echoed chorus of

"Greetings, Lord Mordo." Mordo smirked and raised a hand, indicating that they could rise again. But since he did not speak, that meant they were to get right back to work, not that anyone was feeling inclined to speak to him, anyway. Mordo walked over to a pile of obsidian shards, picking one up and looking at it with interest. He held a hand out and teleported a piece of paper to his hands, and everybody present slowly paused in their work and watched him with baited breath. Mordo held the piece of paper out and lazily directed the edge of the obsidian shard at it; the shard went through the paper insubstantially, as though it were nothing more than air. Mordo smirked and muttered under his breath

"Perfect…" He turned back to all the slaves, all of which flinched and frantically scrambled back to work, but a raised hand from Mordo halted them. He snapped his fingers, and Endreia immediately teleported to his side. In the Ender language, Mordo asked

"Are they ready to my specifications?" Endreia nodded, telling him

"There is a cart full of them, waiting to be delivered." Mordo smirked and said

"In that case, go deliver them." Without a word, Endreia teleported away, and Mordo turned his attention back to the slaves and announced

"Today I give you a purpose behind taking down these obsidian towers, and sorting through the debris." All eyes were turned on him, though no one dared ask what this purpose was or would be. Mordo didn't expect anyone to, though, and continued

"You will be whittling the larger fragments down to blocks so as to use them to build my castle." Now the slaves began to murmur amongst one another, most astonished at the announcement of their new task, and also wondering how this would be possible with simple hacking tools like pickaxes. Then, without warning, the sounds of a minecart rolling toward them rattled out, signaling a delivery, which was rare almost to an extreme. Endreia teleported back to Mordo and reported

"The delivery will be here shortly, Lord Mordo." Mordo nodded approvingly and walked to the end of the track, where the minecart would come to a stop. After a short moment, the metal cart appeared and stopped, and stopped Mordo reached inside and pulled out what appeared to be a flat iron mallet, and a chisel made out of pure diamond. He held these up for the slaves to see and declared

"These are the new tools with which you will craft the obsidian blocks. I wish them to be of varying sizes, which Endreia will soon give you the guides for. Any questions?" Naturally, nobody raised any questions, making Mordo grin. He placed the tools back in the minecart and walked back to Endreia, telling him

"When there is no more obsidian to be had, tell me. Additionally, have all the smaller, unusable shards sent to my house." Endreia bowed and replied simply

"My Lord." Mordo smirked and teleported to the obsidian platform where he had first appeared after taking the End Portal. There lay the draconic Encarna, resting after her latest assignment. She opened a single eye, which was still laced with fatigue, and Mordo asked

"How went the attack?" Encarna answered

"As you instructed, Father. I demolished their defenses, and Destroyer did the same to the people within the walls. We rounded up all the witches and wizards, as well as the rest of the items you described, and took whoever would join us. It was considerably more this time, because your name is being spread with fear, and the people feel like it is pointless to oppose you." Mordo grinned at the news, replying

"Then my conquest of the Overworld is beginning to come full circle. Contact me when you have recovered your strength, Encarna; we still have one more castle to seize before we can move on." Encarna promised

"I will, Father." Mordo smirked once again, then teleported back to his home and returned to his desk, where he continued drawing up the plans for the future he envisioned.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Back at Jack's cabin house, Jason's sudden training had continued for the past several days, during which time Jason had accrued many welts and bruises. Jack had tried his best to help, but he wasn't particularly good at tending injuries. The first time he had spotted him, Darius scoffed

"He needs to toughen up, anyway, and you coddling him won't help." After that, Jason decided that the only part of him that needed any real nursing was his pride. During the course of the physical training, Darius had also taken to trying to mentally train the fledgling youth, believing that a warrior's body and mind needed to be in sync to fight at his best, and Jason didn't have much leeway to argue otherwise. They would spar early in the morning, have breakfast, and while they waited for the food to settle in their stomachs, Darius would train Jason's mind in different ways; most often, he presented various scenarios to him and made Jason choose a side and defend his position.

In the beginning, Jason found the exercise not only to be mentally exhausting, but more often than not emotionally turbulent, since most of the choices always had some catch or loophole that Darius seemed able to exploit and make him second-guess himself. Unfortunately, each time he did this, Darius would beam him over the head and exclaim

"Never hesitate! He who hesitates in battle dies like a fool!" More than once Jason had stormed out, but Darius seemed to expect that, and Jason got used to the punishments he would receive at Darius' hands for interrupting their lessons. After lunch, they would practice mentally for an hour or two, then return outside to spar once again. Jason was frequently frustrated at his repeated defeats and failures at Darius' hands, but the man was unperturbed and continued.

On this particular day, their spars started just like every other; Jason and Darius faced against each other, with Jack and Max on the sidelines. Both participants wielded only sticks as their weapons, and Jason felt the pain of the abuse his body endured over the past couple days. Today, though, the fight would start differently; before, Jason had always launched himself at Darius and attempted to out-speed or out-maneuver him, or even once a combination of the two. And every time, Darius was able to thwart his attempts with general ease, if not downright impunity. So today Jason decided to allow Darius to take the battle to him and see if the change in his strategy would work.

At the same time, he would feign weakness, though it wouldn't entirely be a farce; after all, the intensive training and relentless mental challenges gave him little chance to rest, and even though he managed to sleep, his dreams often turned to nightmares, of Mordo, of his father, and occasionally the Ender Dragon. Of the two, of Mordo and the dragon, he could not decide which was worse.

He focused his attention as Darius began to walk toward him, but at an angle, not directly approaching Jason; his steps were smooth and calculated, and he almost seemed to glide over the grass. Jason started to move himself, side-stepping Darius and always keeping his attention focused on the opponent before him. Things progressed tensely in this manner for the next couple minutes, with no one saying anything. As the time stretched longer, the very air seemed to become taut with the intensity of the stares of the opponents.

All at once, the tension broke like a glass pane.

Darius yelled out ferally, leaping forward and swinging his stick in a swift arc in front of him. Jason yelped and quickly back-pedaled, also bending forward and sucking in his stomach so that Darius' blow only grazed his shirt, but Darius didn't falter, instead planting his right foot firmly in the grass and bodily throwing himself at his adversary. Jason was tackled hard and sent to the unforgiving ground, but because of his earlier move to avoid Darius' initial blow, he was able to use the momentum to throw the man's weight off himself and scrambled back up to put distance between himself and his mentor, never taking his eyes off as Darius pushed himself back up and cracked his neck.

Jason remained firmly on his feet, his heart pounding from the exchange, but still he didn't press to attack. He would keep to his strategy and hope it worked for him. Once again Darius began to sidle along, and again Jason copied his movements. After a minute, though, a small protruding rock tripped Jason up, and Darius lunged in another attack. Jason tried to swing his stick at Darius to discourage the attack, but the seasoned warrior batted it aside easily and tackled Jason, sending him once again to the ground. As Jason tried to sit up, Darius pointed his "weapon" at Jason's throat and declared

"Dead." Jason growled and demanded

"How?! How is it that I lose in such a humiliating manner every time?!" Darius scoffed and told him as he lowered the stick

"I've been training like this for twenty years; you've only been at it for a few days, not even a week. It would be strange if I couldn't beat you with depressing ease, now wouldn't it?" Jason growled again and forced himself up, taking up the stick again, but Darius raised a hand and said

"We're done for today." Jason blinked, taken by surprise, then asked suspiciously

"Why?" Darius motioned for them all to return inside the house, which they hesitantly did. Once they were all inside, Darius explained

"We've stayed here long enough; you've already buried your father, and gathered what you needed. I can train you while we travel, but we can't stay here." Jack was no less than surprised, and slightly indignant.

"What about my house?" Darius shrugged, replying

"Sorry, Red, but we can't take it with us. Grab the supplies you need, and don't overdo it. I don't wanna be carrying dead weight." Jack frowned slightly, but figured it wouldn't do him any good to argue. Darius again addressed them both;

"We've gotta get out of this area before Mordo decides to come back on a hunch; he knows Jason's still alive, at least, and he might not want to leave any loose ends." Jason pointed out

"Mordo stated that I wasn't a threat to him, a lost cause. Besides, we don't know where we're going." Darius sifted through his pack while Jason made his arguments, and soon pulled out a scroll of paper, then retorted

"Mordo could easily change his mind, and we don't wanna be sitting ducks if he does. As for where we're going…" He went to the kitchen, followed by Jack and Jason, and unrolled the scroll on the table to reveal a large map of the Overworld, though it mainly depicted the large continent they lived on. The map showed the Eldritch Kingdom, where they currently were, at the center of the map, with five kingdoms surrounding it, three of them major. Jack remarked

"I didn't know you were a mapmaker, too." Darius scoffed and replied

"Please, I couldn't draw a map to save my life. My old master gave this to me after he finished training me, which took ten years, I might add." Jason spluttered, aghast.

"Ten years?! We don't have that kind of time!" Darius agreed

"No, we don't, so I'm gonna have to cram what I can in your head before you take on Mordo. At any rate, the place we're going is here." He pointed to one of the surrounding lands, the other prominent feature being that the borders of the land were strangely thick. Jack looked curiously, then frowned and asked

"Nicobar? Why would we go there?" Darius explained

"It's where my master lived while he trained me; the fortifications are beyond any of the stories you've heard. No Mob has been able to penetrate it, except Endermen, but the guards are trained to kill them on sight. In fact, my master was one of those guards, which is how I learned to be an Enderslayer." To Jason, the choice made sense; Nicobar wasn't, strictly speaking, a kingdom. Rather, it was an independent city-state that set many of its own laws, though it had a treaty with the Eldritch Kingdom to supply fighting men in times of crisis. It was also a site of high trade, since it had a harbor at its western side, which allowed it to exchange resources with other ports and lands beyond the seas.

Moreover, the city was very heavily fortified with a wall that had multiple layers within it, though it also had a tunnel within it to allow guards easy transport. Whatever empty space was left was packed with gravel and sand, providing the wall not only a compact design, but offered solidity and sturdiness as well. However, Jason couldn't help asking

"Are we going to be welcomed, considering we- me in particular- have a murderous Ender Lord after us?" Darius pointed out

"We don't know that he's really after us; I just don't want to take the chance that he might be." Jason took a moment to consider this argument, then stated

"Even so, we might want to move by night, since we won't be as easily seen." Darius shook his head and retorted

"That's no good. Not only would we be subject to Mobs, but Endermen can see in the dark as easily as we do during the day. I do agree we need to be cautious, but going by night is nothing short of suicide." Jason grunted, then asked

"So when do you propose we leave?" Darius answered confidently

"Tomorrow morning." This answer took both Jack and Jason by surprise, and Jack looked around at his modest cabin, sighing morosely.

"I'm gonna miss this place." Darius told him, in no uncertain terms

"Well, sorry to hear that, but we don't have much choice. Besides, we need to travel and gather information, about Mordo's movements. I guarantee he hasn't been layin' low." Jason nodded in agreement, adding

"I shudder to think how many innocent lives he's taken." Darius replied simply

"It can't be helped. Now, this journey is going to take a while, and we can only get any real traveling done by day; at night, we'll have to find some kind of natural shelter where we can barricade ourselves until the morning. Further, we only hunt as we need to eat; we can't afford excess weight." Jack and Jason both nodded, and Darius added

"We can't wear our armor, either; diamond and gold stand out way too much. We're taking risks as it is with our weapons." That said, each man went to gather his supplies before they left, Jack in particular taking the time to dismantle the redstone wiring and redstone lamps, as he intended to bring those with him. Once they had everything, they ate a quick and simple dinner, then headed early to bed.

**Hope you enjoyed! See you next time!**


	9. Chapter 9

**I'm back with another! I hope I'm keeping you all entertained, because if I'm not then I'm really doing something wrong, which is one of the last things I need right now. But I guess I'll find out in due time, eh? Enjoy!**

Mordo stood at his desk, looking down at the plans he had drawn nearly to completion, when the sound of an Enderman teleporting into his house reached his ears. He grinned, saying

"Endreia. Just who I wanted to see." He turned around, and his eyes widened in surprise. Endreia was sheeted in blood, some of which was still pouring from open wounds upon him. He held a perpetual grimace and his uninjured left arm across his torso, and seemed to be holding back a scream of pain. Mordo frowned and demanded

"What happened?" Endreia winced and fought to breathe for a moment before saying

"Our initial attack… seemed to go as planned. Everyone fled… and we followed to… dispatch them… and then, out of nowhere… multiple guards flanked us… and started to wipe us out. It was as though… they could read our movements… I lost many of my comrades today, and I am ashamed… to report that I have failed you." Mordo took this in for a moment, then told him

"Do not worry about it. I expected as much, anyway." Shock registered on Endreia's face before anger flashed in his eyes, and he forced himself to stand, fury laced within his voice.

"You mean to tell me that you sent us there to die, and you knew what awaited us?! Many of them were my friends! How dare you send us to a trap when we promised our loyalty-!" Mordo cut him off sharply with a cold, menacing voice.

"Watch your tone with me, Endreia; I told you I would forgive your first blunder, but I could just as easily eradicate you where you stand." Endreia grimaced, both in pain and the realization that he had overstepped his bounds. After a tense moment, Mordo continued

"I sent you to Nicobar knowing what might happen. I freely admit this. However, I did not do it to condemn you or your friends to death. I did it as a test of your loyalty, and that of your legion. Needless to say, I'm rather glad that you returned to me. I'm sorry you suffered." Endreia hesitated before telling him

"It's not for me which I was angered, My Lord." Mordo raised a curious eyebrow, asking

"Oh? There is someone close to you?" Endreia nodded and explained

"My only child, my son. Shortly after he was born, his mother was slain while trying to forage for food from the Overworld. He has never known her, and I am all he has for family. I couldn't take another mate." Mordo watched him, fascinated to a degree. Finally he stated

"I am sorry to hear of your loss, Endreia, and I will try to ensure that you stay alive for your son." Endreia sighed in relief, which was quickly followed by a sharp intake of breath from the pain of his wounds. Once he recovered he bowed to Mordo, saying

"Thank you, Lord Mordo. I won't fail you again." Mordo nodded and told him

"Go to the magician's pavilion and have them heal your wounds. When I have need of you again, I will summon you." Endreia nodded one last time and teleported, and once he was gone Mordo muttered disdainfully under his breath

"Sniveling, sentimental idiot." With that, he teleported to the obsidian platform where Encarna rested. Immediately the dragon opened her eyes and told him

"I was about to call for you, Father; I have recovered the full measure of my strength and await your next command." Mordo smirked, responding

"What excellent timing; you and I are going to the city of Nicobar to destroy it." Encarna frowned slightly- or as much as a dragon could- asking

"Did you not send Endreia's legion there already? What of them?" Mordo chuckled and replied

"The idiot failed, as I expected." Encarna rose up slightly, resting her weight on her forepaws and asking further

"I am confused, Father; if you didn't expect him to secure a victory, why did you send him where he might have died?" Mordo smirked and explained

"I'm glad you asked, Encarna; I actually have a few reasons. First, while I didn't expect him to win, if he had, it would have saved me a significant amount of time. Second, I did it to remind him that I am in sovereign control of this Realm. Third, I hoped to find any sort of weakness which I might exploit in the future, and indeed I have. He won't be much bother to me anymore, I am certain." Encarna took this information in, then remarked

"You have a devious mind, Father. What is your plan?" Mordo smirked before telling her

"You will remain as you currently are. I will open a portal to the Overworld, and you will fly us to Nicobar. Once there, you will busy yourself with the destruction of the wall; I will be occupied with the city itself. We will not be taking prisoners this time, however; I wish for this attack to make a statement, a statement of my power and wrath. Once the city is no more, I will send in the Endermen to salvage whatever they can and to burn the bodies, if I have not already done it myself. After this is done, we should have no trouble initiating the next phase of my plan." Encarna then rose to her fully standing height, stretched impressively, then laid down on her belly; Mordo climbed onto her, settling toward the conjunction of her neck and torso.

Encarna stood once again, then coiled her powerful legs and jumped hard, driving her wings down; the skin connecting the ribs of her wings stretched taut as they filled with air, pushing her up and onward. She quickly drew her wings back up, relaxing the wings so they did not push her back down, and at their apex she drove them back down. She gained momentum and soon was flying through the End. Mordo pointed at a bedrock circle, large enough to accommodate her enormous size, and in a matter of seconds an inky black portal oozed into existence. Without questioning it, Encarna angled her wings and dove straight for the fluid darkness, and to those who watched, it appeared as though the Ender Dragon was diving into a pool of starry ink without making a sound or splash.

…

Over the ruins of the village beneath the Eldritch castle, a black spark seemed to ignite before a hole as black as the night opened up and granted the access of the Ender Dragon with her red-eyed "father" riding atop her. As the last of her tail left the portal, it collapsed on itself and winked out of existence. Encarna flew on, passing quickly over the forest. After couple minutes of flying, she spotted out of the corner of her eye three humans and a dog. However, she didn't find this information pertinent, so she refrained from bothering her father with it.

In a solid half hour, the massive city of Nicobar came into sight. By far, the most impressive aspect of the city was undoubtedly the large wall that completely surrounded it; the wall was at least fifty to seventy-five feet tall and twenty feet thick; Mordo knew, however, that the wall was hollow inside, which allowed the guards who watched the city easy access to and from the city and the wall itself. The wall was necessary because of the numerous miens that surrounded and spider-webbed under the city; it supplied the city-state with a multitude of valuable resources, but also subjected them to numerous attacks from a variety of Mobs, especially Zombies, Skeletons, and Spiders. More than once, the city was invaded by Endermen, but the guards were specially trained to handle them.

As they neared the city, Encarna loosed a challenging roar, meant to take the guards by surprise and instill fear into the denizens of Nicobar. Mordo smirked and waited until the last second before Encarna landed thunderously on the wall to teleport into the city itself, where he unleashed a storm of lightning from his hands, the plasma cables wrapping themselves around numerous victims before cutting through them and searching for another victim. Meanwhile, Encarna tore at the wall, prying the stones apart and frequently throwing the large chunks at the guards who came to attack her. More than once her head darted forward and snatched an unfortunate soul, bit down once, and spat out the lifeless body.

Many of the citizens cried and begged for mercy, but Mordo showed them none. Only once did he pause in the slaughter of the city, and that was to address the foolish guards trying to dispatch him. He whirled around and fired bolts of energy faster than any arrow, without fail striking each guard in the heart or through the eye. After he finished killing the foolhardy guards, Mordo walked up to one of the entrances to the wall, coalesced a large, compact fireball between his hands, then unleashed the fire in a stream straight into the entrance.

The stream of flames struck the wall opposite the entrance, so hot that it slowly began to melt the stone upon contact. The torrent of flames tried to roll back, but the unending stream kept it from doing that. Instead, the flames took the path of least resistance, billowing down the two sides of the tunnel and instantly torching any guard who was unfortunate enough to still be inside the wall. While releasing the inferno, Mordo watched and listened with satisfaction as it coursed through the path given to it. He also watched as pillars of flame burst out of roof-top openings that allowed the guards to patrol the cat-walk portion of the wall, sending red-orange pillars into the sky.

After a few minutes of this, and once Mordo was certain the task was complete, he cut off the flames with a self-congratulatory smirk. Turning back to the city, he began to walked the streets, striking down man, woman, and child, feeling no remorse for his actions.

Back on the wall, Encarna could hardly fail to hear the procession of fire as it roared throughout the human-made structure. It had been easy to avoid the tongues of flame for her, but for the guards they were either too slow or too ignorant to notice it, and she was quick to dispatch those that remained. Now unbothered by weak and idiotic humans, she returned to her task of ripping the wall apart, a task that was easier thanks to her "father's" fire. In no time at all, a portion of the wall came tumbling down, Encarna jumping off just as it did. She continued on, and with the increasing weakness the wall came down faster and faster. She followed it around the city, careful to avoid the water at the harbor. Soon, the entire once-impressive fortification was nothing more than rubble at her claws.

A few minutes later, Mordo walked out of the front of the city, his hands held above his head. Above him, the dead citizens of the city were packed into a tight human ball, many of the faces contorted with pain, some with fear, and still others with sorrow. Mordo dropped his hands and let the dead fall to the ground unceremoniously. He gave a simple _snap_ of his fingers, and the collection of bodies burst into flames. Mordo watched the pyre for a short while, then went to Encarna, stating

"You have made me proud today, Encarna." The dragon dipped her head in inclination, replying

"Thank you, Father. May we return home now? I have grown weary." Mordo nodded and climbed onto her back, then summoned his power and teleported them both back to the End.

**And that's the chapter, guys. Hope you all enjoyed! Later!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey everybody, sorry about the massive delay! I've still got plenty of things to work out- Fanfiction, tryin' to find a job (ugh), I'll be starting school the day after this is posted, got a ton of yardwork that I don't wanna do but can't put off forever, you know how it is. It doesn't help that this is by far the longest chapter I've posted for this story so far, but hopefully the others won't be that long. **

**But on this note, I've noticed I'm either not getting a lot of response for this story, or everyone seems convinced that it's going to be a certain way and apparently makes it unappealing. So now I want to ask you guys directly; am I better off dropping this story, or do you want to see it through to the end? Let me know (reviews, PM, I don't really care) and tell me what you think about it. In the meantime, enjoy.**

It took all of a week for Jason, Jack, and Darius to crest the hill overlooking Nicobar. On the first day of their journey they could hardly miss the Ender Dragon flying overhead, and while Jason had worried that the dragon's path was the same as theirs, Darius had told him not to worry excessively, that Nicobar was a defensible city with capable guards, though Jason had noticed that Darius' voice lacked conviction. However, the man remained relentless in training Jason. They still used sticks to train, and more often than not Jason went to bed with numerous welts. However, he noticed that he was slowly becoming more and more proficient, able to deflect more of Darius' blows, though he couldn't return them yet.

As they journeyed, they always seemed to find some sort of cave of alcove that provided them some measure of shelter. Frequently, during his watches, Jack fiddled with redstone and what seemed to be the makings of an iron sword, but more often than not he shook his head and swore to himself under his breath. It wasn't until the fourth night into their journey that he declared he needed a flint-and-steel, but of all the things Jason had in his packs, a flint-and-steel was not one of them, and Darius' had been used the previous night without a spare. The men searched along the way for gravel after that, but with no luck.

Now, at the end of their journey, they made it to the top of the hill with high hopes in their hearts, which quickly fell to their feet; instead of a tall, proud city with an impenetrable wall, they saw the blasted buildings, a circle of rubble surrounding the city, and an ominous black pile sitting in front of the city itself. The men stared for a moment, then looked at each other, horror reflected in their eyes. They ran pell-mell down the hill toward the city, and once they climbed over the ruins of the destroyed wall, they came face-to-face with the black pile, which proved to be the burnt remains of what could only have been the city's inhabitants. Max's ears drooped and he whined pitifully; Jack fought to keep his breakfast down; Jason failed to do this, and Darius stood tight-fisted with a heavy scowl burdening his features. Once Jason recovered, he wiped a hand across his mouth and stated wanly

"This had to have been done by Mordo; no one else is evil enough." Darius clenched his fists even tighter, but said nothing. After an indeterminate period of silence, Jack asked

"So… what now? There's no one here to help us anymore, and the wall we hoped would protect us is torn down." Darius collected his thoughts, then answered

"We're gonna have to leave; without a wall, this place is a center point for Mobs to inhabit, since this city rests over several mines that supplemented the city." Jack nodded, then said

"Alright, but before we go, there's somethin I gotta get." With that, he took the shovel off the top of his pack and ran around the pile of bodies, giving it a wide berth, and into the front of the city. The street walks were made of gravel, and Jack stuck his shovel into it, beginning to dig. Darius, Jason, and Max quickly followed him, Darius demanding

"What the hell are you doing?!" Jack grunted as he answered

"This is the first piece of gravel we've seen since we left my house, and I still need a piece of flint. Besides, no one here is gonna care if I find some." Darius couldn't argue too much with that, but Jason tried.

"Jack, this is akin to defiling a grave! These people died here, we shouldn't be invading like this!" However, Jack ignored him and continued digging. After movin a pile of pebbles aside, he exclaimed victoriously and bent down, grabbing a piece of smooth gray flint and pried it out, holding it in his hand with a grin. That grin quickly disappeared as the gravel he was standing on sunk half a foot, halted, then went down another half foot. He looked up at Darius and Jason in horror before the gravel gave way under him and sent him plummeting with a yell. Jason and Darius knelt at the edge of the hole, waiting tensely, and soon the yell was interrupted by a large amount of splashing, indicating that there was water beneath them. They listened in rapt horror, but after a minute they heard spluttering and deep gasping, and Darius immediately called out

"Red! You alright?!" His voice echoed in the cavern below, and after a moment Jack answered

"I'm fine! There's an underground lake, and it seems pretty deep! But I've still got my shovel and the flint!" Darius groaned, smacking his forehead. The he huffed

"Well, I guess we got no choice but to go after him." Jason looked at him and replied

"He's my friend, and he saved my life, so I'm not going to leave him behind. But why do you want to keep his company? I get the impression that you don't really like him." Darius smirked, remarking

"You may not be a fighter, but you got a way of reading people. Anyway, he _is_ a bit annoying, but even I have to admit that a redstone engineer is pretty damn valuable. So for now, we try to keep him in our group, at least until his stupidity threatens our lives. Then I'm done with him." That said, he leapt over the edge and tucked his legs, wrapping his arms around his knees. Soon after, a large splash signaled the end of his fall. Jason sighed and stood up, remarking to Max

"Now I think I know why Dad opposed the idea of me going on a journey." Max barked once, and Jason bet down, taking him and placing his securely over his shoulders. Then he jumped into the large sinkhole and clenched his legs together, as well as pinching his nose and shutting his eyes tight. The sensation of falling was heart-pounding and sent tingles p and down his spine, but was also surprisingly brief. He plunged directly into the water and spread his limbs, fighting what gravity and momentum had done, climbing through the water until he breached the surface, taking a deep gulp of air. Next to him, Max emerged and set to doggy-paddling to shore. Jason followed after him, bogged down by his clothes and pack, but he persisted, and soon both Darius and Jack grabbed his arms, pulling him ashore. He shook off some of the water as Darius remarked to Jack

"For a brilliant engineer, that was a pretty damn stupid thing to do." Jack hung his head, saying

"I'm sorry. I thought the ground was solid underneath the gravel. I didn't imagine that the dirt had worn away." Darius sighed, then stated

"Well, nothin' to do now but find our way out of here. There's a lot of caverns down here, both natural and carved out for resources. Let's hope this cave connects to a carved one, or we'll have a helluva time getting out." Jason pointed out

"The ways in front of us are dark, and our torches are wet." Jack exclaimed, then quickly dropped his pack and began rifling through it before pulling out a torch that, instead of coal, was topped with redstone. Jason was about to object, but Jack scraped the redstone torch against a rock; it sparked, then began to glow with a semi-dull crimson radiance. With it, Darius and Jason could see that Jack was smirking. Jason was no less than astonished and asked slowly

"How…?" Jack quickly explained

"I took some redstone and soaked it in oil, then let it dry on the stick. It lasts for a surprisingly long time- two hours- and resists water so it doesn't go out when wet." Darius slapped him on the shoulder, congratulating

"Attaboy! Now that's usin' your head! So, let's get the hell outta here before we get shot by a Skeleton." He took the torch in his left hand and drew his sword with his right, leading the way. Jack followed after him, handing another torch to Jason, who took the rear and drew his golden sword. Darius walked slowly, testing the ground in front of him for any traps or any ground that might give away if he stepped on it. Luckily, the cavern they traveled was solid stone. After six hours and as many redstone torches, Darius sighed and stopped, leaning against a wall and saying

"Let's take a break, guys. It's definitely close to night by now, and I don't think we're any closer to the surface." Jack pulled out a compass, which also had a barometer-like function. He tapped it, then reported

"We're at the same level as when we started." Darius swore loudly, which echoed down the tunnels. There was uneasy silence for a moment before Jason interjected

"Let's be thankful all we encountered were Zombies." Darius grunted. Then he stood back up and held his torch high, looking as far as he could. He frowned for a moment, then took a step forward. Then his face took on a look of amazement, and his voice had a similar quality.

"Hey, kid… c'mere…" Hesitating for a moment, Jason handed his torch to Jack and joined Darius. The man pointed in front of him, asking

"Whattya see there?" Jason squinted at the area Darius was referring to, and at first he didn't see anything. Then when his vision shifted, he gasped as he spotted a purplish glitter.

"Is that… a diamond vein?" Darius grinned and replied excitedly

"I think it is, kid, I think it is! Let's get it, I'll even split it fifty-fifty with ya!" Jason nodded, and the two quickly pulled out pickaxes, diamond for Darius and gold for Jason. As they ran for the vein they spotted, Jack frowned and pulled his compass back out, looking at it closely. As Jason and Darius began to hack at the diamond vein, Jack tapped his compass, then raised and lowered it, watching intensely. Finally he walked toward the mining duo, saying

"Guys, we're too high for there to be any-" He was cut off as the pickaxes broke through the vein, only to reveal that the colors they saw were no more than bright paint. Both stared, aghast, and then a weighted pressure plate clicked back into place, the rock no longer keeping it down. Following that was the sound of repetitive clicks. Max's ears perked up, and he ran toward Jason just as the stone beneath them was pulled away, causing Darius, Jason, and Max to fall into a trap. Jack yelled out and started to run to help them, but he was clubbed across the back of his head and knocked unconscious. By the light of his dying torch, his unknown assailant started to drag him back.

* * *

Jack stirred and moaned, then heard the distinctive clanking of bone-on-bone, and then the creaking of wood being bent. He opened his eyes, surprised that there was a source of light that momentarily blinded him. Once his eyes became accustomed to the light, he found himself staring down the sharp end of an arrow, pulled back on a bow that was held by a Skeleton; the Skeleton was devoid of clothing, except for a sturdy leather wide-brim hat. The sockets of its eyes glowed red, and the face bore the eternal death-grin.

Next to the Skeleton was a Zombie, its flesh already green-blue and decaying. Small tufts of black hair still existed on its scalp, though it was mostly bald. The clothes it wore looked well-worn, mostly in tatters. Next to the Zombie was a Creeper, a mostly green-and-black spotted creature. Jack knew little about them, besides what everybody else knew; when they approached a human, they exploded. Jack nearly fainted at the sight of the three Mobs, until the Skeleton told him in a commanding male voice

"Don't make any funny movements; I've never missed a shot, and I don't plan to start ever. Now, who are you and what are you doing down here?" Jack stumbled on his words for a minute, then took a deep breath and told his captors

"My name is Jack, I'm a redstone engineer. I accidentally dug a hole through some gravel, and my friends and I have been trying to find our way out." At once it clicked, and he shouted

"My friends! They fell down in some kind of trap, and now I don't know where they are!" The Zombie frowned, asking in a fragmented but unmistakably male voice

"Our… trap…?" The one… with fake… diamonds…?" Jack nodded dumbly, and the Skeleton considered him for a moment before motioning to the Zombie and telling him

"Check the trap." The Zombie nodded and shuffled to the back of the cavern they were currently in, and pressed a button and pulled a lever Jack hadn't noticed before. The lever opened some stone gates, much like the trap before, and the button set off a series of clicks. Within seconds, Darius, Jason, and Max all spilled out onto the stone floor, groaning and severely disoriented. The Skeleton looked back at Jack and motioned with his skull to the two men and the dog, asking

"These the friends you were talking about?" Jack nodded slowly, but the Skeleton turned his attention to their new captives as Darius rose, taking the scene in. Immediately his eyes widened, and he cursed loudly before shouting

"Kid, get on your feet! We got three Mobs!" Jason scrambled to stand up, but he was still disoriented and slammed into a wall. The Skeleton turned to aim his bow at Darius, and Jack noticed a quiver half-filled with arrows hanging from his waist, the shoulder strap hung around the Skeleton's spine. His red eye sockets seemed to flash, and he challenged Darius

"Go ahead, tough guy; make a move." Darius froze, staring dumbfounded at the Skeleton. Then he asked bluntly

"You can talk?!" Jack was certain that if the Skeleton could make facial expressions, he would have scowled. As it was, he answered with a note of disdain in his voice

"of course I can talk, you dolt. We _all_ can, but you never give us the time to!" This gave Darius pause, during which he allowed his sword to drop down to his side. He realized that not only was he outnumbered, he was outmatched; a creature who could explode (he was surprised it hadn't already), one who hit him even if he ran, and one with inhuman strength. If ever there was a time for diplomacy, now was a good time as any. He raised up his free hand slowly, then put away his sword. Both hands empty, he stated

"Okay, Im unarmed, and my companions are useless." Both Jack and Jason yelled out indignantly

"Hey!" Darius ignored them and continued

"Look, there's only one Mob that really I can't stand, and it's those filthy Enders." The Skeleton paused himself, though he didn't relax his bow.

"Endermen, huh? We've been having trouble with them lately. They keep stealing our stuff. I lost an entire quiver to those bastards, Derrick lost his stock of potions, and while Boom doesn't have anything to steal, I have no doubt they would have taken it, too." Darius frowned, asking

"Derrick? Boom?" The Skeleton finally relaxed his grip on the bow, spun the arrow in his bone-fingers, and replaced it in the quiver. Then he tilted his head back and slipped the bow behind his collarbone and into his ribcage, the bottom settling into his pelvis. Then he lowered his head again and addressed Darius.

"My name is Thomas, but I just go by Tom. The Zombie is Derrick. Creepers can't speak, so the Creeper doesn't have an official name. We just call him Boom." Darius looked at the three of them, then asked cautiously

"And you all just… hang out here?" Derrick, who up to this point had been silent in front of Darius, interjected

"We don't… look for trouble… trouble… finds us…" Tom chuckled, remarking

"Truer words were never spoken, my friends." Tom looked back at Darius and elaborated

"You see, after we died, we still had regrets in this world, which is why we stayed behind. Of course, by choosing to harbor regrets, we became Mobs, which some hunt and all hate." Darius frowned, asking

"So you just returned as a Skeleton, and your buddy came back a Zombie?" Tom shook his head, replying

"That's not how it works. When someone dies but has regrets or unfinished business, their spirit can return to their body. But since it's already dead, it becomes a Zombie. While the spirit controls the body, the Zombie can feel no pain, and they possess an enormous amount of strength. It's actually quite impressive to witness." Jason interjected

"But then where do Skeletons come from?" Darius smirked, unable to help himself.

"When a Mommy Skeleton and a Daddy Skeleton love each other very much-" He was interrupted by the sounds of Jason and Jack smacking their faces with their palms in exasperation, Derrick laughing, and the clanking of Tom's bones as he crossed his arms and shook his head. Once Derrick stopped laughing, Tom took over, addressing Jason's query.

"A Zombie's body doesn't last forever; the flesh and organs rot and fall off, leaving just the bones and spirit behind, which takes residence in the skull." Jason grabbed his stomach as it lurched, causing Darius to roll his eyes and ask in an annoyed tone

"Are you gonna vomit every time we deal with death?" Jason retorted hotly and defensively

"I'm only fifteen years of age! Leave me alone!" Darius rolled his eyes again, and Tom stated

"It actually is quite disgusting. I remember my shift from a Zombie to a Skeleton, but I'll spare you the grisly details." Then everyone stood for a moment, an awkward silence pervading the cavern until Jack ventured to break it.

"So… if you're not going to kill us, what _are_ you going to do with us?" Tom shrugged, replying

"I don't know. I haven't completely ruled out on killing you yet." Jason frowned for a moment, thinking intensely. Finally he said

"Why don't you join us, then?" Everyone turned their attention to the young prince, with Darius shouting-

"What?!"- and Tom asking

"Come again?" Jason stood up, finally having regained his bearings, and continued

"The Endermen took your things, violated your cave. I'm sure you don't want that to go unpunished." Then he turned to Darius and argued

"We're outmatched, in both numbers and strength. We need allies, but since Mordo is killing every possible ally we might find, we can't be too picky." Both of them considered his arguments, then Tom stepped up and told him

"I'm not so petty that the loss of my things is reason to go fighting against the Endermen. However… for a while now, I've been pondering my existence, wondering why I walk this Overworld. And I suppose traveling with you is better than sitting on my pelvis trying to figure it out." Derrick and Boom walked next to him, signifying that they stood by him and his decision. Then all eyes, living and dead, turned to Darius. He gnashed his teeth together, frustrated, but finally relented.

"Fine! But make no mistake, bonebag, if you make any funny moves I'll use your skull as a trophy." If he could have, Tom would have smirked at his threat. Instead he replied

"Deal. But before we go, we have to make a visit to Hazel." Darius frowned, asking

"And who is Hazel, might I ask?" Derrick decided to answer this question.

"She's… a witch… who gives me… potions that… allow me… to walk in sunlight… without burning." Jack supplied

"Fire Resistance Potions?" Derrick simply shrugged, and Tom added

"She's also an accomplished enchanter. She could help us power our weapons, though she might ask a price." Darius' eyes flashed excitedly, asking

"Does she have an anvil, too?" Tom shrugged, replying

"I don't know, I never looked. But she might." Darius grinned, saying

"That's good enough for me! Let's go see this Witch!" Tom nodded and motioned with bony fingers for them to follow. Everyone fell in line behind him, Derrick shuffling with a significant limp in his right leg. Boom walked next to him, all four of his legs working in tandem with each other. Behind them walked Jason, Max, Jack and Darius bringing up the rear. Tom navigated the tunnels without hesitation, and soon he pulled out his bow, telling the party behind him

"Up ahead is a massive nest of Spiders; usually they don't give us trouble, but now that fresh meat is upon them, they'll attack fiercely. I suggest if you're going to fight that you put on your armor, if you have any." Jason and Darius quickly slid their packs off their shoulders, delving inside and pulling out their respective armors. While Jason's wasn't particularly damaged, it was still made of gold. Meanwhile, Darius' diamond armor was showing signs of severe wear-and-tear, but he believed it could survive the oncoming battle. As they buckled each piece into place, Darius told Jason

"Aim for the heads or middle of the abdomen; that gives you an instant kill. If you can't do that, go for the legs; they're very weak. And whatever you do, don't get bitten." Jason nodded at the instruction and handed his pack off to Jack, who was going to stay behind and out of the way. Darius handed his pack to him, too, and Boom stayed behind with Jack as the rest walked into the large cave, Jason and Darius with their swords drawn, Tom with an arrow nocked and held in front of him, and Derrick balling his hands into fists. Tom whispered to Darius behind him

"If you've got a torch, now might be a good time to attract their attention; I'd rather fight on our terms than theirs." Darius nodded in agreement and pulled one of Jack's redstone torches from behind his back, striking it on the stone floor, then threw it in front them, quickly pulling out another and lighting it, jamming the torch in a crack in the floor so that he and Jason could see. As he did this, a flurry of splatters could be heard, signaling the approach of the Spiders. And out of a crevice they came in a large swarm. All black- except for eight glowing red eyes each- many of them were the size of Max, some bigger, some smaller, but all of them possessing a pair of sharp, venomous fangs. They poured out, hissing with abandon, which created an enormous din that Jason believed would have drowned out all other noise.

Tom took the first shot, releasing the string of the bow with a sharp _twang_. The arrow buzzed through the air and sunk straight into a Spider's face, piercing its brain and killing it instantly. Before the first arrow had even finished its journey, Tom had nocked another arrow and sent it to kill another Spider. Derrick bellowed and ran forward to meet a Spider head-on, punching it so hard that its body caved in and was sent flying back, crashing into its fellows and battering many of them back.

Then Darius and Jason ran forward, tailed by Max. Darius jumped forward and swung his sword in a flashing purple arc, lopping off at least two Spider heads and severing many legs. Jason pulled his sword arm back and jammed it straight through a Spider's head. As he pulled it back out, he bent over, allowing Max to jump off his back and throw himself at a Spider also in midair. His lips were pulled back in a ferocious snarl, his ears flattened down, hackles raised high, and a low growl erupted from his throat

He tackled the Spider out of the air and landed on top of it in a tangle of legs. Max lunged down with his jaws and wrenched at the Spider's throat, or what would be considered its throat, and with a mighty heave tore it out. Another Spider lunged at him, but Jason appeared and quickly lopped off the head; Max jumped out of the way as the rest of the Spider's body crashed down.

Having only half a quiver full of arrows, Tom quickly ran out. However, he was not daunted by this; rather, he took it as a personal challenge that he was more than willing to accept. He ran to a boulder and climbed it, then waited for a moment before leaping and holding onto his hat. He landed on the back of a particularly large Spider and swiftly locked his bony legs at the conjunction of the thorax and head, then began to control the Spider. He forced it to return to the corpses of its fallen brethren, the ones who had arrows visibly sticking out of them. He quickly ripped out the arrows, shook off whatever flesh hung on, and stuck it back in the quiver. Once he had all of his arrows back, he made the spider he rode climb a wall until he had a sort of outpost from which he fired his arrows again, never missing his mark.

Surrounding Derrick was a mass of crushed Spiders, and many that were torn into pieces. Those that had reached him, and managed to avoid his immediate blows, tried to sink their fangs into his body, but either pulled back as the toxicity of his fermented blood swept into their mouths or merely continued their momentum with small chunks of rotten flesh hanging from their fangs. Derrick didn't feel any of it, however, and kept bashing the Spiders left and right. He even went and pried out a large boulder, heaving it and crushing a multitude of arachnids.

Jason and Darius stood back-to-back, slashing and fending off their eight-eyed enemies, until one or two were dumb enough to get within range, in which case they had their heads chopped off. Max also helped by frequently weaving through the throng of Spiders, biting at their legs and making it difficult for them to move. When they whirled around to attack him, he dodged the attack and- if he was lucky- caused them to attack one another. Darius was grinning and declared happily

"Oh, it feels good to get back in the action! Whattya say, kid, ain't this great?!" Jason slashed forward, decapitating yet another Spider and kicking aside the fallen head before replying

"I could do without the life or death part of it!" Darius laughed at that, then lunged forward and slashed left and right, felling Spider after Spider before retreating back so as not to leave Jason on his own. From time to time, they spotted Max as he worked to cripple the numerous enemies, or a random arrow that picked off a larger Spider they hadn't noticed. The fighting continued for what felt like hours, but couldn't have been more than one. At last all the Spiders lay dead, and Jack finally entered the cavern, calling out

"Is it over?" Jason called back

"Yeah, we're done here! You can come in now!" Jack nodded and walked in with Boom, looked around, then started to pick up the "spoils" of their miniature war, namely Spider eyes and string, which was sometimes excreted as the Spider died. Darius asked somewhat impatiently

"What're you doin', Red?" Jack looked up and explained

"We're visiting a Witch, who are known for potion-brewing. If we come bearing potion-brewing ingredients as a gift of goodwill, she might be more inclined to help us." Tom walked up, clanking as he did, and said

"That's actually a really good idea. Besides, I could use the string; my bow broke, and I'm down to one arrow." Hearing this, Max turned a hungry eye to the Skeleton, which Tom couldn't fail to miss. He asked nervously

"Hey, uh, kid? Could you ask your dog not to eat me?" Jason quickly scolded

"Max! We don't attack our allies!" Max looked at Jason, then sat down. Jason turned back to Tom, telling him

"My name is Jason, by the way." Tom nodded.

"I'll try to remember that. Anyway, once Red finishes gathering up our spoils, we'll continue onto Hazel's place, and hopefully she'll help us." Darius smirked and tapped the flat of his sword against his armor-covered shoulder, stating

"I think I could persuade her." Tom quickly warned

"Don't think you can force her to do anything she doesn't want to. As fast as I can draw and fire an arrow, she can nail you with a Potion of Weakness, or Blindness, or even Harming. She's not someone you want to anger." Darius rolled his eyes, mostly disregarding the warning. At that moment, though, Jack stood up and declared

"Alright, I gathered everything. Sorry, Tom, I couldn't find your arrows." Tom nodded, replying

"I know; the rest shattered. Besides, I don't have a bow anymore." Jack frowned, then knelt and pulled Jason's crafting table from his pack, complete with its tools. He took a few sticks and used the hammer- which was in part magic- and hammered them together. Then he took three pieces of string, using another tool to fuse them together. Finally, he tied one end of the string to one end of the elongated stick, then forced the stick to bend until it was the proper shape for a bow before tying off the other end of the string. Satisfied, he trimmed off the excess and tossed the newly-made bow to Tom, who caught it and stared, astonished. When he looked back up at Jack the red-haired man stated

"A Skeleton without a bow is like a chicken with no feathers; it makes no sense. And since we're allies, it only makes sense to help one another." Tom nodded slowly, then took out his remaining arrow and nocked it, pulling back on the string to test it. After a moment, he relaxed the string and put his single arrow back, saying to Jack

"Thank you. It works well." Jack grinned and put away the crafting table, then stood up and said

"Well, we're not getting any younger, or any closer to Hazel! We better keep moving." Tom nodded and stored his new bow into his ribcage, then led the way again down a tunnel next to the crevice where the Spiders had poured from. Darius had taken the torch he had jammed in the rock so he and Jason could see, and the crimson light suffused the darkness, not entirely making it disappear, but at least allowing them to see for several feet. After about half an hour of walking, they spotted a warm-looking source of light, and quickly approached it. At ten feet, however, Tom stopped and motioned for the rest to be quiet. None of them decided to oppose his action, and watched as Tom called out

"Hazel! Are you in there?!" A moment's silence pervaded the natural corridor before a husky, feminine voice answered

"Tom? Is that you?" Tom quickly replied

"Yes, it is!" The voice then asked

"Well, why are you out there?! I told you boys that you're welcome in here!" Tom explained

"We've got some company with us, and I didn't want to frighten you or make you hostile!" There was a moment's silence again before the voice- presumably Hazel's at this point- asked cautiously

"What kind of company?"

"Three humans and a wolf!" Once more silence was present until Hazel said

"Alright, they can come in, they better behave!" Tom nodded, mostly to the present company, and led the way. As they approached, Jack said

"I think I'll stand guard out here; I don't have anything as a weapon- yet- and I don't want to take up unnecessary space." Tom nodded, replying

"Alright. Boom, you stay with him; make sure no more Spiders attack." The Creeper hissed once, Jack handed Darius the collection of Spider eyes to offer to Hazel, and when the entourage reached the lair Jack put his pack down and started digging through it while Boom stood vigil on the other side of the door. Upon stepping inside, Jason took in the sight of a roughly hewn cave-home; one side was devoted to a library of sorts, that curved around what he recognized as an enchanting table. If he concentrated, he could just barely see ancient-looking glyphs floating from the books surrounding the table toward it, apparently insubstantial since once they touched the single book that floated above it, they vanished.

Another wall was devoted to what appeared to be a farm of sorts, though Jason didn't recognize what was being grown; it was blood-red and mushroom-like in appearance, but the dirt in which the strange plants grew seemed like faces were imprinted on it, in particular faces of pain and agonizing sadness. Jason shuddered and forced his eyes to move to the last part of the home, where a few brewing stands were placed next to what appeared to be a natural flow of fresh water. Large chests were also present, no doubt in which the Witch stored her potions and potion ingredients.

The Witch herself was rather unattractive, with wide-set eyes and a rather bulbous nose, a dark wart finishing it. Her mouth was thin, the lips almost bloodless and translucent. She wore a large, pointed hat and robes that concealed the rest of her, which Jason secretly found himself glad for. The Witch Hazel narrowed her eyes, which resembled chips of flint, then turned her glare on Tom and addressed him in the same husky voice they heard before, but had a note of harshness to it when in close quarters.

"I though you said there were _three_ humans, unless one is using a Potion of Invisibility and plans to assassinate me?!" Apparently she was also prepared for something such as that, for she drew a gnarled hand out of her robes, clutching a glass bottle that held a dark, poisonous green liquid Jason doubted he ever wanted to come into contact with. Tom motioned for her to calm down, then pointed with his thumb at the entrance, explaining

"The other human decided to keep guard outside. Boom's with him." Hazel took that in, then nodded slowly and put the potion back into her robes.

"In that case, how can I help you?" Tom motioned to Jason and Darius, saying

"They need to borrow your anvil, if you have one." Hazel grunted, then pointed toward the library, telling them

"Behind the books. What else?" Darius stepped up and stated

"Bones over here told us you're good at enchanting; once the kid and I fix our stuff, we could use some enchantments." Tom took out his new bow, adding

"I could use some enchantments for this, too, if you don't mind." Hazel nodded, asking

"Anything else?" Derrick chimed in

"The… Endermen… stole my… potion stock… and I'm going… traveling… with them…" Hazel nodded, then smirked and told Derrick in what Jason- while he wasn't certain of it- believed was her attempt at a seductive voice.

"Sounds like you've got a lot of work to do, big boy." Darius' eyes went wide, but before he could say anything Derrick replied

"Sorry… Hazel… that fell off… a week ago…" Now Darius gagged, and Hazel's seductive looks immediately turned to disbelief.

"What?! But I haven't had any satisfaction in weeks! Besides, how are you going to pay me?" Her gaze turned then to Darius and Jason, and her smile quickly returned.

"Perhaps one or both of you boys could show a lady a good time?" Jason blushed furiously and was rendered unable to answer. Thankfully, Darius came to his defense.

"For Notch's sake, lady, he's only a boy! And no offense, but you're not exactly my type." Hazel's attempts at seduction fell away, and she turned her back, saying haughtily

"Then forget getting any help from me if you have nothing to offer in return!" Darius smirked and retorted

"Who said I had nothing to offer?" Hazel turned her head just enough to look at him out of the corner of her eye.

"I'm listening…" Darius slipped off his pack and opened it up, then started taking out leather pouches of items; one of them Jason recognized as a bag of redstone dust, and while two other bags contained substances of similar appearance as far as texture was concerned, one was a dull gray and the other golden-yellow, and glowing at that. Yet another pouch contained the same mushroom-looking plants that Hazel was farming; several pouches contained sand, and Darius pulled out a multitude of other items, some of which Jason recognized, and others he didn't. However, it appeared Hazel knew them all, because her gaze was wide in astonishment as she whirled around and exclaimed

"Redstone dust! Glowstone dust! Gunpowder! And sand, Nether Wart, Blaze Rods and Powder, Ghast Tears, Magma Creams, Slimeballs, Spider Eyes, oh, this is beautiful! Where did you get such a treasure trove?!" Darius grinned and stood up, replying

"I've traveled far and wide. I always had this stuff prepared in case I needed to make a sudden break and have to brew my own potions. But I figure I can kill three birds with one stone: one, you get supplies. Two, we get the services we need. And three, I free up a lot of space in my pack. So, whattya say? Will this do?" Hazel was positively beaming and replied ecstatically

"Yes, yes, this will do excellently! I'll give you all the highest enchantments possible, and Derrick, I've been working the potions to last for weeks; if you're willing to wait a little while, I can give you some that will last a month each." Derrick smiled and nodded, and Tom remarked

"You're suddenly in a good mood, Hazel." The Witch set about gathering her new bounty and replied

"I've been dangerously low on these supplies for weeks now, and with such a generous gift as these, how can I not be happy!" Darius smirked and motioned to the library, saying

"If ya don't mind, the kid and I will be busy with the anvil." Hazel shook her head.

"Not at all, not at all. And if you ever collect such another bounty as you've offered me, I would be more than glad to take it off your hands." Darius chuckled and told her

"I'll keep that in mind." With that, Darius bumped Jason's shoulder and motioned him to follow, which he did. Once they were out of earshot, Jason remarked

"I'm rather appalled at how willing she seemed to sell herself." Darius huffed, telling him

"Don't worry too much about it. Let's just focus on what we need to do. Now, do you know how to use an anvil?" Jason hesitated before admitting

"I know the process, but I've never done it before." Darius scoffed, muttering under his breath before saying

"Well then, I'll go through it with you." They reached the metal-gray anvil, which looked barely used at all. Darius put his pack down, then knelt beside it and opened it. As he delved through the pack, he addressed Jason again.

"Are you aware that you require the material that your weapon and armor is made of to repair it?" Jason nodded and answered

"Yes, and I have a large pouch of gold that I stored secretly since I was told I would be going on a journey." Darius smirked.

"Good. In that case, let the lesson begin." He stood back up, pulling out a pouch that was filled with light-blue diamonds. Jason could help but gasp at the sight; such a treasure was highly coveted, and Jason had only seen diamonds on rare occasions. Darius chuckled and told him

"I have more, ya know; usually people gave them to me as thanks for getting rid of Enders." Jason winced, then asked

"Could you stop saying that? That term is vulgar and demeaning." Darius rolled his eyes and wordlessly pulled out his diamond sword, the edges of which were pretty worn down, the tip was chipped off, and minute cracks ran through the blade. Darius whistled low and stated

"Glad we've got an anvil in front of us, eh kid?" Jason simply grunted, and watched as Darius picked up the iron mallet. He put a single diamond on the flat of the blade, toward the crossguard. He then placed the mallet on top of the diamond, and the mallet took on a similar hue as the diamond. Jason watched in amazement as Darius raised the mallet up and brought it back down; Jason expected one of several possibilities, that the mallet would crush the diamond and break the sword, or maybe would bounce off the diamond but still shatter the sword, or that it would simply bounce off.

He was amazed to instead see the diamond not only not get crushed nor the sword shatter, but rather the diamond seemed to be made of dough as it melded into the blade and seeped into the fractures. Twice more Darius struck, and the diamond disappeared entirely while the sword was significantly repaired. Darius bent down and retrieved another diamond and repeated the process until the diamond was used up. Two more diamonds later, Darius' diamond sword was completely fixed and sharp again. As he eyed the edges, he stated

"You know, you can also use an anvil to name something." Jason's eyes widened in surprise, and he asked in a whisper

"Really?" Darius nodded, grinning. Then he reached down and pulled out a smaller hammer and a chisel, saying

"I'll show you how. Now, I already have my sword named; _Priscilla_." Jason frowned slightly, asking

"Does that name have significant meaning to you?" Darius lowered his sword and sighed, answering sadly

"That was my baby sister's name. It was an Enderman that killed her; it only seems appropriate to me that she get vengeance for it." Jason paused to think for a moment, then asked

"But is that what she would want? Or is it just what _you_ want? Besides, how is she getting vengeance when it's you wielding a weapon that bears her name?" Darius had no answer for his question; he simply placed the tools down and stared ahead, though he wasn't looking at anything in particular. Jason then feared that he had overstepped his bounds with the stronger, more battle-trained man. But Darius just sighed and told him in a dull voice

"Just figure out the name you want on your weapon and start chiseling; the magic in the tools will stop you from going too far." Jason still didn't reply for fear of angering his teacher, and contented himself to watch as Darius repaired his armor while contemplating names for his sword. After Darius finished repairing his armor and pickaxe, he moved aside to let Jason use the anvil. He pulled out his pouch of gold and started with his sword, paying attention to his work, but also continuing to think what name would be appropriate for the blade. Then he set that aside and commenced the work on his armor and pickaxe.

The work wasn't as extensive on his armor as it was for his tools, and soon he was finished. He set the pieces aside and picked up his sword again, staring at its golden-yellow sheen and seeing his reflection therein. He thought about all the names he knew, quickly tossing them aside; he didn't really want to use a person's name anyway, since it had the potential to confuse him in the future. So he began to think deeper, and suddenly a word came to his mind, a word his father taught him when he taught Jason about gold. Jason smirked and laid the sword down on the anvil, picking up the small hammer and chisel Darius had set aside. Picking his spot carefully, he began to tap the hammer against the chisel, the magic within guiding his hand and making the process seem much easier than it should have been.

After he finished, Jason quickly worked on the other side, inscribing the word he had chosen. Once it was done, he held up the blade and inspected his handiwork, grinning at the word. He quickly sheathed it, then stuffed his armor inside his pack and returned to the group, where Darius asked

"You finished?" Without a word, Jason drew his blade and handed it over to Darius. He held it point-down by the grip, reading the inscription just below the crossguard. He then raised an eyebrow and said

"_Aurum_." He looked at Jason's grinning face, whereupon the deposed prince explained

"It comes from an ancient language; it means 'gold'. Actually, it more than just means it, it _is_ it." Darius contemplated this for a moment, then asked

"So you named your golden sword 'Gold'? Seems a bit redundant." Jason shrugged, arguing

"I like it." Darius held it for a moment more, then shrugged and returned it.

"Well, it's your sword. Far be it from me to tell you what to name it." Jason hesitated, then said

"Darius, I'm sorry about what I said before." Darius didn't acknowledge him, except by replying

"I don't know what you're talkin' about." Jason opened his mouth to remind him, until it dawned on him that Darius was purposefully stating that he had effectively disregarded what he said. Not wanting to cause a fight or even a disagreement, Jason closed his mouth and let the matter drop. They then turned their attention to Hazel, who was filling a large leather pack with potions, then handed it to Derrick, who laboriously slung the pack over his shoulders and thanked her. Then Hazel to the enchantment table, asking

"Who's first?" Tom stepped up, drawing his bow out of his ribcage and answering

"Since I've only got one item to enchant, I guess I'll go first." Hazel nodded and took the bow, then turned and faced the enchantment table; the book floating above the table opened up, and the glyphs became more visible, but were still translucent. Hazel lifted the bow above the book and released it, then started to chant in a low voice and- most importantly- an entirely different language. It seemed that with every word she spoke, energy thrummed through the air. After a few minutes, the bow took on an incorporeal glow that shifted and shimmered. Hazel gently reached out and took it, then turned and held the newly enchanted bow up for all to see, telling Tom

"I've given your bow several enchantments that you might find useful. I've bestowed Unbreaking Level Three, Flame One, Knockback Two, and the one I think you'll particularly like is the enchantment Infinity." Tom cocked his head to the side, asking curiously

"Infinity?" Hazel smiled wide, not her most endearing gesture admittedly, but warm nonetheless; there was a twinkle in her eye as she explained

"It means that as long as you have one arrow in your stock, you'll never be without arrows." Tom's jawbone dropped, but he quickly closed his mouth again and asked eagerly

"Can I try it?" Hazel nodded and handed over the bow. Tom quickly turned to the wall and his hand whipped to the quiver hanging off his waist; Jason watched as the bony fingers grasped at the arrow, and was surprised as the arrow glowed, and as Tom's fingers flew away grasped what looked like a perfectly real arrow, though the original remained in Tom's quiver. Tom nocked the arrow, pulled the string back, and fired all in one swift movement. The arrow buzzed through the air, its journey cut short as it embedded itself in the wall. Tom looked down at his quiver and exclaimed

"It really works! Now I never have to worry about running out of arrows again!" Darius pointed out

"Unless someone steals your only arrow." This gave Tom pause, and after a moment's contemplation he concluded

"In that case, I have to make more arrows." Jason offered

"I have some arrows; we were heckled by Skeletons more than once on our journey." Tom grunted, then stated blandly

"I feel like I should be offended, but I'm not. I'll accept them." Jason nodded, then turned back to Hazel. She held out her hands and told Jason and Darius

"I'll take identical pieces of armor and enchant them both at the same time." Darius smirked and pulled out his chest plate, as did Jason, with Darius telling her as he handed it over

"Be careful not to throw out your back." Hazel huffed and grabbed both pieces of armor, saying in a low voice

"Don't underestimate me, boy." Without discernible effort, she lifted both the diamond and gold chest plates with her arms alone, astonishing them both until Tom slipped next to them and whispered

"Don't marvel about her strength; she took a Potion of Strength while you guys were watching me shoot." Darius scoffed, remarking

"Figures." They then focused on Hazel, who chanted almost non-stop for a little over five minutes. Once she finished, she tossed the chest plates- which now glowed and shimmered like Tom's bow- back to their respective owners. Jason and Darius both had the wind knocked out of them, but all Hazel said was

"Next." Jason and Darius quickly recovered and handed over their armored pants and leggings. Hazel repeated the process, including throwing them back. Then she turned around and told them

"I gave your chest plates and pants the same enchantments; Protection Four, Blast Protection Four, Fire Protection Four, and Unbreaking Three. I think those will serve you well. Next, I'll take your helmets." Without arguing, Jason and Darius relinquished the helmets, and yet again Hazel set to enchanting them. The process didn't take as long this time, and she returned them by hand, not air. Then she told them simply

"Unbreaking Three, Respiration Three, and normal and Blast Protection Four. Your boots, please." Once more Hazel did her work and reported

"Unbreaking Three, Aqua Affinity, Feather Falling Four, and Protection Four. That's the best I can do for your armor." Darius smirked and started putting his armor away, followed by Jason as Darius replied

"That's actually very good. Can we get our pickaxes done before we get to the good part, the swords?" Hazel nodded and the two warriors gave over their pickaxes. This time was even shorter, and Hazel told them

"I gave them both Unbreaking Three and Fortune Three; whenever you mine certain ores, like diamonds for example, you might get more than one." Jason and Darius smirked at each other, then put the pickaxes away. Finally, they drew their blades, fresh from the anvil, and gently handed them over to Hazel, with the crossguards facing her. She took them as gently as they were offered to her, then turned and focused intensely on her work. Jason and Darius watched her progress with the same intensity that she gave to her work, and after five antagonizing minutes Hazel took the diamond and gold swords, then turned but didn't immediately hand them back to their owners. Instead she said

"Before I give these back to you, you have to understand something; enchantments for swords can be a bit tricky. Some don't mix with others. I'll list what I _could_ give them both, then name the individual enchantment for each weapon." Jason and Darius said nothing, waiting for her to continue. Taking a deep breath, Hazel began

"They both have Unbreaking Three, Fire Aspect, Knockback Two, and Looting Three. Looting increases the chance of receiving some sort of loot from Mobs you slay." She turned to Jason and raised _Aurum_, telling him

"I gave you Sharpness Five, because I sense that you need a well-rounded sword, a weapon that's useful in all situations." She then turned to Darius and told him

"For you, I decided to forgo Sharpness, because I see you as a man who enjoys a challenge." Darius smirked, remarking

"You got good eyes." Hazel nodded once, then continued

"So your enchantments include Bane of Arthropods Five, which is primarily for Spiders and Silverfish. Finally, you also have Smite Five, which gives you a distinct advantage over the undead." Darius grinned widely at that, stating

"So while they give me no trouble, I still have a challenge from Endermen. Good." No sooner than Jason and Darius got their weapons back, they heard Jack give a sudden shout from outside followed by an explosion that shook the entire room and nearly knocked them off their feet. Once they regained their bearings, Jason and Darius bolted out of the room, followed by Tom and Derrick and tailed by Hazel, who brought her poisonous green potion back out.

Outside the cave, the scene was one of destruction; where the rock had previously been roughly carved but passable, now it was jagged and torn apart. Jack was on the floor several feet away, apparently having been knocked off his feet in the explosion. Boom was nowhere to be found. Jason ran up to Jack and helped him up, asking urgently

"What happened?" Jack looked up at him questioningly, then asked louder than necessary

"What?!" Darius frowned and remarked

"The explosion must have damaged his hearing." Jason nodded, then turned back to Jack and motioned to the mess behind him, asking loudly

"What happened?" Jack's face became laden with grief, and he explained- still louder than necessary

"We were just standing guard out here, I was doing a bit of tinkering, when we heard two Endermen teleport barely five feet from us! I shouted to warn you guys, but Boom… he leapt at the Endermen and…" He tailed off from there, but he didn't need to say anymore. Boom had sacrificed his life, and Tom and Derrick hung their heads. Jason was certain that if either of them could cry, they would. Jason and Darius hung back to give Tom and Derrick their moment to pay respects to their fallen friend. After a minute, Tom turned to the humans, but addressed Jason indirectly.

"You convinced us to join you, though you tried with petty reasons. But now things have changed. Because of them, our friend is dead, and I can't let that go unpunished." Jason nodded grimly, understanding. Tom turned his red-socketed gaze to Darius, asking

"Do you have anything to say about this decision?" Darius replied somberly

"Only that I'm sorry you lost your friend." Tom nodded, accepting his response. Jason then said

"In that case, let's pay a final tribute to Boom, then return to our journey. We still have a long way to go." The rest of the party nodded and retreated to Hazel's cave to gather their stuff.

**Whew! It's finally finished! Dear Notch that took forever! (And I know that technically Microsoft took over Minecraft, but I don't care, Notch is the creator!) So, until next time, see ya!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Okay, to start off, I'm sorry about the HUGE delay this story took, but quite frankly I was feeling uninspired. Not to mention school kinda took over for a while, and tryin' to find a job. But I'm not giving up on this story entirely, because I planned out a long way ahead, and I kinda want to see it through. So for now, enjoy.**

Mordo and Encarna emerged from the fresh obsidian portal that appeared out of nowhere, filled with what looked like a film of purple ooze. They stepped from the portal and into the stifling heat of the Nether, in all considerations a Hell that no one wished to be stranded in. Encarna was in her second form currently and fanned her wings almost reflexively, trying to banish some of the overbearing warmth, remarking

"I did not expect it to be so hot as this, Father; I am much more accustomed to the End's frigidity." Mordo waved a hand, and suddenly the heat wasn't so intense, but rather more akin to a pleasant summer's day.

"Hardly a consequence to one such as myself. Now, direct me to the ruler of this Realm." Encarna closed her eyes for a minute before telling him

"We are fortunate, Father; his fortress is not unduly far away. A few teleporting jumps should get us there in reasonable time." Before Mordo could respond, a strange sort of purring noise reached his ears. Then, unexpectedly, a white blimp-like shape floated from beyond a wall of Netherrack. A sickly color of white, with the exception of black-slit eyes, gray tear tracks, and a small O-shaped mouth, the creature floated with no apparent direction, pushed along by the eight tentacles that dangled and undulated beneath it.

Then, as if it sensed their presence, the Ghast turned in the heated air and faced them. The black-slit eyes snapped open to reveal fiery red irises, and the mouth opened in all directions, a sure sign of hostility. The Ghast screamed an unearthly wail and flames flickered in its maw before it spat out a good-sized fireball at the duo. Mordo drew the blade belted at his waist and smacked the fireball with the flat of the translucent purple metal, sending the fireball back to its sender. The Ghast opened its mouth to fire again, but the original fireball flew into its mouth. The Ghast seemed to bloat enormously, forcing tears of pain out before it exploded. The force of the explosion sent a couple of the Ghast's tears flying at Mordo; the stifling heated air caused them to harden into a standard teardrop shape, and Mordo caught them with ease. He eyed the tears before placing them in his pocket and murmured

"What a nuisance." Without another word, Mordo placed a single finger on Encarna's shoulder and teleported to a different shelf of Netherrack, a very considerable distance away. He did this twice more, and on the last teleportation he spotted a dark, foreboding castle that could also have been translated for a fortress. The structure was composed of dark red-purple bricks that towered in a hollowed portion of the Nether; surrounding and filing through the structure were numerous Zombie Pigmen, the patrol and guard of the Nether. Mordo also spotted Blazes and the occasional Wither Skeleton walking around with a stone sword. Mordo told Encarna

"Stay behind me and let me do the talking." Encarna bowed her head and replied

"Of course, Father." Mordo once again teleported them, but this time in front of the Nether fortress. In an instant, the Blazes lit up and fired a volley of fireballs at them, making noises like labored breathing. Mordo swiped his hands aside and deflected the entire fiery onslaught, then continued forward. As close as the intruders now were, the Blazes did not dare fire upon them.

Mordo and Encarna kept walking until they reached what amounted to a Netherrack cliff that plunged directly into a boiling lake of lava, with Nether Brick supports keeping the Nether fortress hovering above the lake of liquid fire. The only way in without flying or teleporting was the Nether Brick staircase, which was guarded on both sides by Zombie Pigmen. The duo stopped a few paces from them, prompting a guard to grunt

"State your business." Mordo briefly took in the sight of the Zombie Pigmen; with strangely pink-and-green skin, random strips torn away or torn off completely, part of its skull exposed to fully reveal a glistening, poisonous green eye and part of the facial bones, it was a sight that would scare many; Mordo was not one of them.

"I wish to meet with your king." The Pigmen looked at each other, then the one who addressed him turned back and stated

"We have no king, only a supreme Emperor who rules the Nether. We are sworn to defend him and each other." Mordo's mouth twisted for a moment, but his voice didn't lose its composure.

"Very well, I wish to meet with your Emperor. I have pertinent business with him that he might want to hear." Once again the Pigmen looked at each other, then back at Mordo; the guard who had yet to speak finally did so, telling him

"Only one is allowed to regularly see the Emperor, and only because we can't stop him. But you are not him, so you may not pass." Mordo scowled now, his patience wearing thin.

"Tell me, if I eradicated you two and went my way, what would happen?" The Pigmen grunted repeatedly, and after a moment Mordo took it to be laughter. His scowl deepened as he demanded

"What's so funny?" The Pigman on his right cut off his laughter, replying to Mordo

"If you attack us, we will attack you in full force. And I should probably warn you, we number in the hundreds, if not thousands." Mordo was about to make a cutting remark before blowing them over the edge of the cliff, until the sound of clanking and clacking bones gave them pause. Mordo, Encarna, and the Pigmen all looked back and watched as a Wither Skeleton appeared at the top of the steps. Its bones were as black as obsidian and nearly as glossy in appearance. Its eye sockets glowed a menacing red, and it wielded a sword made of stone. It looked at them all before descending the Nether Brick stairs and asking in a cool male voice

"What is the meaning of this?" The Pigman who originally addressed Mordo turned to him and explained

"This upstart Enderman teleported before us and demanded to see the Emperor." The Wither Skeleton looked at Mordo and Encarna carefully, then addressed the Pigman again.

"Does this look like a normal Enderman to you?" The Pigman looked at Mordo again, then shrugged and replied

"How should I know? I've never seen an Enderman in person, just heard of them." The Wither Skeleton sighed, then walked past the Pigmen, lifting his sword arm, but not in a threatening way. Rather, he slid his sword into a sheath that was strapped across his skeletal back, then directly addressed Mordo.

"What is your name?" Mordo drew himself to his full height and stated

"I am Lord Mordo, ruler of the End." The Wither Skeleton shifted his weight, clacking as he did, and replied

"Impossible. The Ender Dragon rules the End." Mordo smirked and motioned Encarna forward, saying

"She did, until I bested her in battle and made her my surrogate daughter." The Wither Skeleton looked at him, saw he wasn't lying, and told him

"I'll personally lead you to the Emperor." The Zombie Pigmen guards behind him jumped, and the first took a couple steps forward, protesting

"But he can't just-" The Wither Skeleton cut him off with a raised hand, retorting

"The tide of power has changed; we would do well to adapt to it rather than oppose it." The Pigman grumbled into silence, whereupon the Wither Skeleton turned and walked up the steps, calling behind him

"If you will follow me, Lord Mordo, I shall guide you to our Emperor." Mordo smirked and walked past the Pigmen, not giving them a second glance, followed closely behind by Encarna. As the Wither Skeleton led the way, Mordo asked

"And who might you be that you command those rotten swine?" The Wither Skeleton replied with caution

"Those 'rotten swine', as you put it, have guarded our Realm from invasion for eons, and I would greatly appreciate that you did not degrade them. However, if it is my name you wish, I am called Bartholomew. One of three Princes of the Nether." Mordo frowned, asking

"'One of three'? Does that not create dissent?" The Wither Skeleton told him

"You are not aware of our customs, so it is understandable that you would be confused. We still have a considerable distance to travel; would you care for me to explain our customs?" Mordo thought this over, then replied with a shrug

"Very well." Bartholomew nodded once, then began.

"Our Emperor is the one you know as the Wither. A Wither is not born, but rather created. It requires Soul Sand to be packed in a pile, and I'll return to this later. Besides Soul Sand, the skulls of three Wither Skeletons is required, along with one's singular torso." Mordo frowned, interrupting

"I thought it was just the three skulls?" Bartholomew looked over his shoulder, retorting

"Are you intimately familiar with the ways of the Nether after all?" Mordo scowled and told him

"Watch your tone with me; I am not someone you want to make an enemy of." Bartholomew took his words into consideration, then resumed leading them as he replied

"No, I don't imagine I do. I apologize for my brusque attitude. I will return to the significance of the torso later, if you will allow me to continue." Mordo gave no response, prompting Bartholomew to continue.

"Three Wither Skulls are required to create the Wither; how these three are selected is a complicated process. The Nether is divided into three main sectors, all ruled by one Emperor. Twenty Wither Skeletons are selected in each sector, and brought to an arena. There the first batch of twenty Skeletons fight to the death; the last one standing earns the coveted title of Prince. The remaining two batches of Skeletons follow this with their own fights, and earn their rights as Nether Princes as well. I earned my title some three to four hundred of your years ago." Mordo continued to listen, increasingly fascinated as Bartholomew continued

"Once the Nether Princes have been decided through battle, the Wither enters the arena and decides if the chosen Princes are indeed worthy of the title. If he finds one he deems unsatisfactory, he is dispatched and another twenty Skeletons are selected from his home sector. If the Emperor Wither is pleased, however, he deems the Princes his sons, to take over when his reign is at an end. When the Wither decides he no longer wishes to rule, the three Princes are gathered at the arena, where they once again fight. The victor of this match becomes the middle head, which is the lead of the Wither's will. The other two become his second and third heads.

The Wither finally retires by dying in the sacramental pool, and from there the Princes are gathered again; the victor of the match, chosen as the lead head of the new Wither, has his limbs and pelvis removed, leaving the head and torso. The remaining two have their heads severed at the neck, leaving some spine left. Meanwhile, the remains of the victor are packed in a pillar of Soul Sand, with small branches at where the shoulders are. The two remaining Princes' heads are brought and stuck with the spine into the sand, at the main head's sides. The power of the Soul Sand restores their lost spirits, then traps them. Once the souls are placed as they ought, the sand seals the souls in place and connects the two lesser heads to the main body, and a new Wither is born." Mordo smirked, having paid more attention to the lesson as opposed to the numerous winding paths that comprised the fortress.

"An interesting and regaling tale, to be certain. So, where do you stand?" Bartholomew replied

"As I stated before, I am one of the Nether Princes; the other two, my brothers, are Bahamut and Balthasar. Our father, the Emperor, has been teaching us what we need to know to rule the Nether; this means he will soon retire, but before he does Bahamut, Balthasar and I must battle to the death to learn who the lead head will be." Mordo remarked

"You must be nervous about that; after all, it's your life, so to speak, on the line." Bartholomew replied easily

"Whatever the outcome, I am honored to have been chosen to represent my sector; I am proud to be a Nether Prince. And I will be glad to be an integral part of the new Wither." Mordo grunted, then asked

"How much longer until we can make the Emperor's company?" Bartholomew climbed a staircase on both sides of which Nether Wart grew. Then Bartholomew motioned to an entrance directly in front of them, answering

"We are here." Mordo grinned, saying

"In that case, let's not keep him waiting." Bartholomew nodded and continued on, waving down the Blaze guards who stood on either side of the entrance and passed through the Nether Brick doorway. Mordo and Encarna followed, and Mordo descried a small throne room, not exactly elegant, but he expected no more from a literal hell-hole. At the back and in the middle, a throne carved out of Nether Brick seemed to jut out from the wall, a part of it but at the same time separate from it. And within the throne sat the Wither, the Emperor.

He had no limbs to speak of, except possibly the two heads that seemed to substitute for arms. The middle skull was the largest, though not by a significant amount; his body was comprised of a singular skeletal torso with the remainder of the spine tapering off, giving the slight impression of a tail. Like the Wither Skeletons, its bony body was a glossy black, but the Wither itself was by far more intimidating than any single Skeleton. Mordo was not daunted, however, but rather impatient to begin. As they made their way to the middle of the throne room, the head on the right of the middle skull exclaimed

"Bartholomew! How dare you bring an intruder into the royal quarters!" The second head, the one on the far left, added

"For this treachery, you shall be stripped of your title as Prince and banished for eternity!" Finally, the middle head bellowed

"Silence, both of you!" The heads obediently closed their jaws, and the middle head once again spoke, addressing the Nether Prince before him.

"Bartholomew, what is the meaning of this?" Bartholomew bowed low and told him

"Excellency, we are visited by the Lord of the End, who seeks an audience with you." The right head exclaimed

"Impossible! Only the Dragon rules the End!" The left head followed

"You have been foolishly duped, and deserve banishment!" The middle head once again shouted- his voice lined with impatience

"Enough!" Once again the lesser heads fell silent, and the lead head turned his attention back to Bartholomew, saying

"I will grant an audience." Mordo smirked as he stepped forward, telling him

"I thank you for your time, Excellency." The lead head of the Wither peered at him for a moment before remarking

"Just as the rumors tell; he bears the resemblance of an Enderman, except for his eyes, which are like redstone chips, and he wears his Pearl upon his chest." The right head asked in a hushed whisper

"You mean to say it is true? The End has a new ruler after all?" The second head piped up;

"What of the wench behind him? Does she not bear the resemblance to the very Dragon we spoke of?" The middle head stared intently at Encarna, then said

"If my years are not playing tricks on me, I would hazard a guess to say that it is true. The balance of power has indeed shifted hands." Mordo stepped up, saying somewhat impatiently

"If you three are done yammering, I'd like to get to business." The three heads looked at each other, then the lead head spoke again.

"Of course, Lord Mordo. We have heard of your exploits in the Overworld, and we hope to avoid a similar fate. I am Emperor Witrio." Mordo smirked, replying

"A pleasure, Witrio. You know, then, that I disposed of King Eldritch and his secondary ruler, as well as the city-state of Nicobar?" Witrio nodded, responding

"As well as many other small fiefdoms on top of that. Such news makes its way between the Realms." Mordo nodded once, stating

"Then you know I have already asserted my rule over two of the four Realms."

"Which is why we talk about a shift in the balance of power. Never before has one person ruled over more than one Realm. And I suppose you have come here to depose me and add my Realm to your rule." Mordo smirked and retorted

"Actually, I'm hoping to avoid doing that here." Everyone presented blinked in surprise, even Encarna, but she didn't contest it. Witrio, on the other hand, did.

"I find that difficult to believe, given that you single-handedly dominated both the End and the Overworld." Mordo told him

"I haven't actually entirely dominated the Overworld yet; that's one reason why I came here, to create an alliance with you." Now the Wither was dumbstruck, and while he had his full and undivided attention, Mordo continued

"You and I will join forces, and with your help I'll assert absolute rule of the Overworld." The Wither took a moment to ponder this, then the right head asked

"A bold proposal, but what do we gain from this?" The left head interjected

"Assuming we accept your offer; how do we know you will not betray us?" Witrio's main head asserted

"These are valid concerns, Mordo; I won't risk the lives or freedom of those who serve me only to be made a fool." This assertion didn't upset Mordo; indeed, it actually made him grin.

"Very wise, Emperor Witrio. I see I am dealing with no fool, and that gives me profound relief. To address your concerns, you already know what I am capable of; it would take considerably more time to assert control of the Overworld on my own and then come here to dominate your Realm. By aligning with you, I save time in both dominating the Overworld and being certain that my holdings here are safe. As to your concern of betrayal, that's in my mind a reciprocal action. As long as you do not betray me, I won't destroy you." The heads of the Wither looked at each other again, then then Witrio's lead head asked

"Do you wish us to throw away our customs and bow to you only?" Mordo shook his head.

"No. As long as you promise to acknowledge me as I am, the ruler of two Realms- and in time a god- then you will be free to your customs." The left head asked defiantly

"And if we refuse?" Mordo's mouth split into a cold smile that was as threatening as it was chilling, then he replied

"Then I will finish my conquest of the Overworld myself and return for your Realm. And the first one I will destroy… is you, Emperor Witrio." Silence followed this solemn and grave threat, but there was no mistaking that meant every word of it. Sensing the tension his threat had caused, Mordo stated

"I don't wish to leave with threats, especially one such as this. So I'll make this offer as a sign of good will; we shall return for the day that your sons fight to secure the victory of the lead head, and whomever wins will also win the hand of my daughter, Encarna." Encarna flinched, not having expected this and feeling a sense of betrayal, prompting her to ask uneasily

"Father…? What are you saying…?" Mordo glared at her, silently commanding her own silence, which she gave reluctantly with a bow of her head. Witrio, however, was confused as she.

"What _are_ you saying, Mordo? You would give your daughter to be betrothed to one from the Nether?" Mordo clasped his hands behind his back and explained

"The Ender Dragon will be wed to the new Wither Emperor. What better way to strengthen the alliance between the Ender Lord and the Nether Emperor?" Witrio considered this for a moment, then stated

"Very well, I'll accept your offer, and return one of my own. Did you have to create a portal of your own to travel here?" Mordo frowned and replied

"Of course; everyone does." Witrio chuckled and stated

"Except for the End Portals, correct?" Mordo waved that aside, arguing

"An ancient people built those. What bearing does that have on our conversation?" Witrio explained

"The ancients did not stop at End Portals, you know. They created portals to every Realm in each Realm so that they could monitor the goings-on in each of them while they grew. When it was determined each Realm could govern itself, they imbued their souls into each portal to make it indestructible. The last of the ancients created a magic map that marked their location and also remains indestructible. In your hands, you would never again have to waste time building a portal; you can simply go to one and use it." Mordo took a step forward, trying to keep his eagerness down.

"How do you know of this? And where is that map now?" Witrio chuckled before answering

"My predecessor heard of it from _his_ predecessor, who lived during that time. We Withers can live for thousands of years, and we all have thus far. From what I was told, the map was left in the care of the Valkyries in the Aether, since they have many, many dungeons in which it could be hidden. Beyond that, I do not know anymore." Mordo nodded, saying

"What you've told me is very helpful. So, do we have an agreement?" Emperor Witrio chuckled again, then replied

"Yes, Lord Mordo; we have an agreement."

**And that about wraps this chapter up. Again, I'm sorry about the delay, and I'm not going to make any more promises this time, but I'll try to update this more frequently.**


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